Kenzi's breakdown
by EmmalinaD
Summary: Kenzi is not the same after she is rescued from Inari. She has a secret that she is keeping from everyone. She has developed an eating disorder and its taking over her life. Bo can tell that something is not right with Kenzi and she won't stop until she finds out what it is. Bo seeks the help of Tamsin and Lauren to try to find out what is wrong with Kenzi.
1. Chapter 1

_This takes places sometime after Kenzi is rescued from Inari, around Season 3 Episode 6. It doesn't really follow the Season storyline any further than that, though. Kenzi has developed an eating disorder after coming back from the cave and is trying to hide it from all of her friends, especially Bo._

Kenzi wasn't feeling like herself. She couldn't shake what had happened when she had been captured by Inari. She kept trying to push what had happened to the back of her mind but she just couldn't. Inari had taken her and for nearly a week Kenzi had been chained up in a cave, wondering if anyone knew she was even there. To make matters worse, Inari had pretended to be her and apparently had fooled Bo and the others for awhile before Bo finally realized that Kenzi wasn't Kenzi. The things that Inari had done to Kenzi during her capture kept Kenzi awake at night. She wanted to forget it all. She wanted some way to push it out of her head. That's when she had started to take up running.

Kenzi had started to run every morning, just a few days after she had gotten back from being rescued. She loved how her feet felt as they hit the pavement, how every muscle in her body screamed as she ran faster and faster. The more she ran the more she started to feel that it was like a drug for her. Still, the words that Inari had whispered to her every day that she was in that cave kept coming back to her.

"You will never be good enough to be Bo's friend. That's why she has been ignoring you for so long. Did you ever think that maybe you aren't pretty enough? Thin enough?"

Inari had also acted quite strange when Kenzi kept asking for food. She didn't understand why the human needed to eat so often and never bothered to hold back on her feelings in front of her prisoner.

"You always say you are hungry. How can you always be hungry? I fed you days ago! I don't know why you need to eat so often! I can survive on such a tiny amount of this stuff you call food for weeks! You are such a weak human!"

A week after she got back from the cave, Kenzi had started to pay more attention to what she was eating. She had always loved to eat and had always managed to stay fairly thin, but she was convinced that there must be something wrong with her. Maybe Bo really was ignoring her because she wasn't thin enough or pretty enough. Bo herself was one of the most beautiful people Kenzi had ever met. She would do anything to get Bo to love her, to notice her again. That's when Kenzi had started counting calories and lowering them every week. It was pretty easy to get away with because Bo was still busy, even after having rescued Kenzi. She always had something going on and while she had made an effort to spend more time with Kenzi in the evenings, she was usually gone during the day.

Kenzi had continued tagging along with Bo during the day to whatever Fae disturbance there happed to be, but after a few weeks she realized she was just too tired. She had been getting up at 4:30 am every morning to run. She usually ran for 2 hours before quietly slipping back into bed. That is if she could actually go back to sleep. Most mornings she just laid in bed thinking until she couldn't stand to stay still any longer. Often times she would end up doing sit-ups on her floor until it was a decent hour to pretend to get up.

It took Bo about a month to realize that something was off with Kenzi. She wasn't her usual witty self lately. It had been two months since the incident with Inari. She also noticed that Kenzi had been making a lot of excuse lately to get out of taking on cases with Bo, something that was very much not like Kenzi at all. At first she thought maybe Kenzi had a secret lover she was spending time with, until one night she found Kenzi curled up on the couch, her knees pulled up, staring off into space. She had told Bo that she was going to spend the afternoon with one of her friends who was in town, when Bo had asked her if she had wanted to tag along on a case late that afternoon. Bo had gotten done within a few hors and hadn't expected to find Kenzi on the couch like that.

"Kenz? Are you okay?" Bo said sitting down next to Kenzi on the couch.

Kenzi didn't answer.

"Kenz?" Bo said, louder this time.

Kenzi startled and looked over at Bo. It took her a second to realize it was Bo next to her.

"Oh hey, Bo. I didn't hear you come in."

"Your home awful early. Did you change your mind about going out?"

"Yeah, I just didn't feel like going after all. I've been really tired today."

"Are you feeling okay? Anything going on that you want to talk about?" Bo asked, hoping she could get Kenzi to open up to her. She really looked upset about something.

"I feel fine, and i'm good. Why?"Kenzi asked, not sure why her best friend was asking her these questions. She really hoped that Bo didn't know what was really going on with her. She had tried so hard to keep it hidden from everyone, especially her best friend over the past few months.

"You just don't seem like your usual self is all. And I miss you. I can't remember the last time you came on a case with me," Bo said.

"Aww, I miss you too, Bo-Bo. Sorry I haven't been going with you very often. I've had things on my mind and tonight...well, I really am just very tired, but I don't feel like going to bed yet," Kenzi said.

"How about I make us a giant bowl of butter popcorn, open some wine, and we put on a movie?" Bo suggested, hoping she could pull her best friend out of whatever was bothering her.

Kenzi stiffened at the mention of popcorn and wine. Both contained so many calories. She had managed to get through the entire day without eating a single thing. If she allowed herself to indulge now, the day would be wasted. But how was she going to keep Bo from getting suspicious? Maybe if she played along she could fake eating and just not have any wine at all.

"Sounds good, but I think i'll stick to water tonight. I just don't feel in the mood to drink," Kenzi said.

"Not a problem, girlfriend. I'll be back in a few minutes. Why don't you find us a movie to watch?" Bo asked, hopping up from the couch and heading towards the kitchen.

Kenzi shuffled through a box of Blu-Rays before choosing one that sounded good. She popped it into the Blue-Ray player and grabbed the remote off of the TV stand before heading back to the couch. She wasn't too surprised when a wave of dizziness swept over her. She hadn't eaten since the day before at breakfast when she had made herself a very low-calorie smoothie. Stopping for a second and holding onto a chair, she waited for the feeling to pass before continuing to the couch. She would have to remind herself to move slower next time, as the dizziness would likely come again. Its something that she had been dealing with for the past few weeks. It had started when she had first starting cutting calories by 200 every day, until she was only eating 500 calories a day. It had been happening much more frequently, as she ate less and less. Right now she was trying to see how long she could go without eating before she caved and ate something.

Bo returned with a bowl of buttery popcorn and water for Kenzi, wine for herself. Kenzi was wearing a sweatshirt with pockets that night. She decided to hide some popcorn in her pockets after pretending to eat some of it.

The two friends snuggled up on the couch and settled in to watching the movie. Kenzi was pretty distracted, as she tried to pretend to eat the popcorn then snuck some into her pocket, a task that wasn't easy with Bo sitting so close to her. Luckily Bo was pretty into the movie and didn't seem to notice what Kenzi was doing. The movie ended a couple of hours later and Kenzi told Bo goodnight before heading to the bathroom to get rid of the popcorn in her pockets. She managed to leave the room without acting suspicious or dropping any popcorn out of her pockets. She flushed the contents of her pockets before heading to her room. She undressed and got into a pair of stretchy black pants followed by a flannel pair of pajama pants, a flannel shirt, another sweatshirt, and pair of heavy socks. She was always so cold these days yet couldn't seem to get very warm, despite all the layers she always put on. She brushed her hair and just happened to glance in the mirror before quickly looking away. She had no desire to look at herself right now, thinking she would only see a disgusting fat person staring back at her. Kenzi slipped under the heavy covers, setting her alarm for 4:30 am before dozing off. She slept soundly for once and startled when her alarm went off so early the next morning. She didn't want to get out of bed as the bed was so comfy, and for once she actually felt warm enough. A voice deep inside of her began to scream at her to get up, to stop being so lazy, because if she didn't she would never look good enough.

She quickly pulled on a pair of workout pants and a shirt followed by a sweatshirt with pockets and her headphones and quietly slipped out the door of her room and down the stairs. She knew Bo would likely still be asleep at this hour but she was extra quiet anyway just in case. She slipped out the front door and into the cool early morning and began to jog. She was listening to Taylor Swifts' song 'Bad Blood' and let the loud music carry her away as her feet hit the pavement.

She began to job back towards the house 2 hours later and did a few stretched before quietly slipping inside the door and turning off the music on her phone. She tiptoed upstairs and headed to her room, gathering up some fresh clothes before heading to the bathroom for a shower. She put the water on as hot as she could stand and stepped into the shower, loving the feeling of the hot water as it poured down her back.

After her shower, Kenzi went back to her room and began to do her hair and makeup. Once that was done she got out her notebook and began to log her exercise for the day along with what she planned to eat. Today, she planned to do the exact same thing she had done the day before. Eat nothing. Under Breakfast she wrote the word _NONE_ and placed a box next to it. If she succeeded in getting through the morning without eating she would put a check mark in the box, otherwise, it would remain empty and she would have to log exactly what she had eaten below that. Breakfast was usually easy to get away with skipping because Bo usually slept until 11/11:30 am on the weekends. Today was no exception, being as it was Sunday. Kenzi finished writing in her notebook before tucking it away under her bed. She had 4 hours to burn as it was only 7:30 am, and she wasn't sure what to do with them. She decided to do a load of laundry and then maybe read a book.

Kenzi was definitely starting to feel the effects of not having eaten since Friday morning. After coming back from her run, she was feeling dizzy with every little movement and standing or walking was definitely making it worse. She told herself that once she had a load of laundry in the washer she could sit down and fold the load that she had just taken out of the dryer. Maybe sitting down would help her not feel so dizzy. After folding and putting away the load of laundry and getting the other load in the dryer, Kenzi sat down on the couch and picked up the book she was reading. She opened it up to the page she had left off at but when she tried to read the words she couldn't concentrate long enough to comprehend what they meant and her eyes kept going out of focus. Deciding that maybe she was just tired she put the book down and laid on the couch, snuggling up with a pillow and blanket.

When Kenzi woke up again it was to see Bo standing in front of her, staring at her oddly.

"You okay, Kenzi? I didn't expect to find you asleep on the couch. Rough night?"

"Actually, I was awake at 7:30 and did some laundry but was feeling really tired again so I decided to lay on the couch. How long was I out?"

"Its 11:45 now. You feel asleep doing laundry? That must have been one tough load of laundry," Bo joked, trying to cheer Kenzi up. She still looked like something was bothering her.

"Ha ha. No, I think I just didn't sleep well last night," Kenzi said.

"Are you sure that's all it is?" Bo asked, feeling like Kenzi was keeping something from her.

"Yeah, i'm sure, really. Look, I should probably get up again I'm suppose to meet someone in a little bit," Kenzi said as she started to stand up. She must have stood up a little too quickly because she felt dizziness try to encase her. She put her hand up to her forehead to try and hide the dizzy look on her face but Bo had noticed.

"Kenz, are you dizzy? Maybe you should sit back down, Bo said, grabbing her friend gently by the elbow and trying to help her sit.

"No, i'm fine," Kenzi said, hoping that if she could remain standing that Bo would stop worrying about her. Her body wasn't having it though and she started to falter again as, this time into Bo's arms.

"Whoa, hon, you need to sit down," Bo said, guiding Kenzi to the couch. She helped Kenzi sit down on the couch and sat next to her. Kenzi leaned her head back on the couch, closing her eyes and willing the dizziness to pass.

"Sorry, Bo, I guess I'm just not feeling great. Maybe I'm coming down with something," Kenzi said after a minute, hoping that she could still save this and not cause Bo to be suspicious.

"It's okay, Kenz, i'm not upset, just concerned. Why don't you lay back down and ill make you some soup. I don't have any plans today so I can take care of you if your sick. Its what friends do," Bo said, smiling over at Kenzi.

"No, i'm fine, really. You should get out and go do something. Maybe go meet Lauren for lunch. I don't want you to stay here with me and have to cater to my every whim," Kenzi said.

"I really don't mind, Kenzi."

"I know you don't Bo, but please, I should probably just rest, okay? I'll be fine. I'll stay right here on this couch and i'll put my phone next to me so I can call you if I need you," Kenzi said, trying to convince Bo that she really didn't have to stay.

"Alright, if you insist. But if you need anything..."

"I'll call you, promise," Kenzi finished, smiling up at Bo.

Bo smiled back at her best friend and went to get dressed. Kenzi sighed when Bo had left, realizing she had gotten away with it. She hated lying to her best friend but Bo couldn't know what she was doing. She would make her stop and Kenzi didn't want to stop. She had to keep going, she just had to.

 _I know that I just finished a story about Bo having an eating disorder but eating disorder story lines are kind of a passion of mine and i've been wanting to write this one for awhile. If you follow me you will likely notice in the future that most of my story lines are about characters from tv shows mainly, who are suffering from an eating disorder._

 _I would love to take requests for stories as well if you like the way I write. Feel free to give me any input that you have whether it be positive or negative._

 _Happy reading!_


	2. Chapter 2

"I'm really worried about Kenzi. She hasn't seemed like herself lately and she looked like she was about to pass out this morning," Bo said, as she sat down at a table across from Lauren, with a cup of steaming coffee and a bagel.

"I thought you had something on your mind. You looked deep in thought as soon as I saw you walking up to the coffee shop. What happened with Kenzi this morning?" Lauren asked.

"I found her asleep on the couch when I got up at 11. I woke her up to check on her and she said she had gotten up early and had fallen asleep after doing some laundry. She said she hadn't been able to sleep so well last night so she thought maybe she was just tired. She seemed eager to end the conversation and started to get up, telling me she was meeting someone and she got this look on her face, like she was about to pass out. I asked her if she was okay and she tried to convince me she was fine, then a second later nearly passed out in my arms. I helped her sit down on the couch and after a few minutes she said she felt a bit better. Said she was feeling very dizzy and that maybe she was getting sick. Then she did another strange thing. She practically pushed me out the door when I mentioned that I would stay home and look after her for the day if she wanted me to. It seemed like she was trying to hide the fact that she wasn't feeling well from me, which is very un-Kenzi like," Bo said, spilling the story to her girlfriend.

"That is strange, but maybe she didn't want to worry you?"

"Yeah, I guess...but i'm telling you, something is off with her. It has been ever since she got back from that bit with the Kenzi look-alike. You don't think we got the wrong Kenzi, do you?" Bo asked, realizing she was only half-joking.

"I'm pretty sure we got the right Kenzi, Bo. She seemed very happy to see you and after all those tests I did on her I don't see how it could have been the wrong Kenzi," Lauren said, smiling and assuring her girlfriend.

"Yeah, your right. She probably is just not feeling well and perhaps didn't want me to worry or something. She told me to go have fun. And I have to admit, i'm glad she did," Bo said, smiling back at Lauren.

Back at the house Kenzi decided she wasn't going to stay on the couch all day if she didn't have to. Having Bo out of the house meant she could move around and go back to the couch if she heard Bo come in. She decided to make some soup and put it into a bowl and then pour it down the sink just to make it look like she had eaten something. Plus it would make her stronger to be in the presence of food without actually eating any of it.

Kenzi began to realize that she needed to come up with a fake illness to throw Bo off. Otherwise, she may catch on to what she was really doing. Should she pretend to have a stomach bug? No, because then Bo might wonder why she didn't catch it as well, seeing as how they lived together. Food poisoning? If she went with that she would have to blame it on something that Bo hadn't also eaten. She could say it was something she had when she was out with Hale but then they always shared food when they were out, and Bo knew that, and if Bo asked Hale if he'd been sick and he said no, Bo might get suspicious. Migraine? Yes! A migraine sounded like the perfect reason for Kenzi to not have been feeling well. She'd had a few migraines in her life and remembered how they went. Usually it started with her feeling kind of nauseous and just off. She usually wanted to sleep the nausea off until the head pain started to kick in, so she could pretend like she had been feeling sick to her stomach and that's why she'd gone back to sleep earlier. Then she could say that she woke up a few hours later with her head pounding like crazy, but thought maybe she was just hungry, so she made herself some soup. She usually ended up vomiting with a migraine until she had nothing left in her stomach to throw up so she could bring in a bucket and pretend like she had been vomiting for hours after Bo left. As far as the dizziness she had experienced that morning, and the almost passing out, she could say that she had felt like her vision was going fuzzy and had gotten dizzy, something that sometimes happened right before a migraine came on. She could also say that she hadn't realized it was a migraine at first since she hadn't had one for a long time. As far as why she had one, she could say it was probably just stress from not being able to sleep the night before, as lack of sleep usually caused her to have migraines.

She felt a little like a con artist, as she completed the story she would tell to Bo. Part of her started to feel guilty, but she tried to push that feeling away, realizing she was so close to getting what she wanted. A voice inside of her asked how long she was planning to go without eating and she honestly didn't know. _As long as it took._

Bo came home around 5:30 and went straight to the living room to check on Kenzi. Kenzi was curled up on the couch with a cold cloth on her forehead, several pillows under head, and a big warm blanket. She had turned down the lights and had the TV on low just to give her something to listen to. She looked out of it again but she was awake so Bo took that as a good sign.

"Hey Bo," Kenzi said, noticing Bo as she came in.

"Hey Kenz. How you feeling?"

"I'm starting to feel better now, just a little nauseous still. I made myself some soup but it didn't stay down so I brought a bucket over just in case," Kenzi said, pointing to a bucket she'd put next to the couch.

"Aww, Kenz, you poor thing! I'm so sorry that you had to spend the day vomiting. You could have called me, you know. I would have come home right away," Bo said.

"It's okay, Bo, really. I'm pretty sure it was a migraine. I haven't had one for awhile but I think the lack of sleep last night might have contributed to it. Unfortunately the best thing for me when I have one is to be alone. The quiet and dark helps me feel better, even if I do spend several hours vomiting and dealing with nausea. Trust me, I use to get these all the time and my Mom...well, when I still lived at home, she would try to take care of me and i'd end up sending her away because I needed it to be dark and quiet," Kenzi said.

"Okay, if your sure. But I still feel awful that you had to go through that today. Migraines sound like a pain...literally a pain in the...head. Do you need anything now that i'm home?"

"Just some company if your up to it. My head finally doesn't hurt anymore," Kenzi said, smiling at her best friend.

"Not a problem, girly," Bo said, gently lifting Kenzi's feet and sitting down next to her.

The two finished watching an episode of Pretty Little Liars, Kenzi enjoying Bo's company.

"Hey Kenzi, do you usually get dizzy before you have a migraine?" Bo asked after the show ended.

"Yes, sometimes I do. Its one of the ways I know that one is coming on, though this morning I didn't realize it was a migraine until the head pain started. Its been so long since i've had one," Kenzi lied, hoping that Bo was still buying her migraine story.

"That makes sense. I'm glad your starting to feel better. Do you want me to make you some supper?" Bo asked.

"No, I think i'm still a bit too nauseous to eat anything yet, but thanks for the offer, Bo," Kenzi said.

"Anytime," Bo said, smiling at her friend. She wanted to believe that Kenzi really did have a migraine but there was still that nagging feeling in the back of her mind that something else was going on with Kenzi.


	3. Chapter 3

The next day Kenzi didn't feel as dizzy and actually felt a bit energetic at first. She made herself get up at the usual time not wanting to miss an opportunity to exercise while she was feeling semi-ok. She went for her normal jog and was surprised that she was able to get through it after not having eaten for several days. She got back to the house around 6:30 again and showered before getting dressed and doing her hair and makeup. Bo got up shortly after she finished.

"Wow, i'm surprised to see you up, Kenzi. Feeling better?" Bo asked.

"Yes, actually, i'm feeling much better," Kenzi said.

"I'm glad to hear that. Do you want to grab some breakfast with me? I have a case I need to get on but I have time to stop off at a coffee shop if your interested. And if your feeling up to it you can come with me on the case too," Bo asked.

"I really want to but i'm not sure I'm feeling quite up to going out yet. I'm still feeling just a bit nauseous. I think I might hang around the house again today," Kenzi said.

Bo was pretty sure Kenzi was going to decline her invitation, something she was okay with given the circumstances of the day before.

"No problem, sweetie. You just feel better," Bo said, kissing the top of Kenzi's head and giving her a hug before leaving.

Kenzi decided that the first thing she was going to do with her day was to look at some thinspiration. She had recently joined a group of pro-Ana's and really felt welcomed there. She spend most of her day on the computer and didn't leave her computer chair until 2:30 that afternoon. She made sure to stand up slowly in case she felt dizzy. The last thing she needed was to pass out and have Bo find her on the floor.

Bo called at 3:30 to ask if Kenzi was okay with her inviting Lauren over for dinner that night. Kenzi panicked for a second as she hadn't even thought far enough ahead to dinner time, let alone having Bo home and likely being suspicious if she didn't eat dinner. Not to mention the fact that Lauren would also be there. Then she remembered how charming she could be when it came to situations like this. She began to devise a plan in her head even as she was answering Bo's question about that night. It was Monday afternoon and she hadn't eaten since Friday morning. She wasn't going to ruin that now.

Bo came home at 4:30 and Kenzi came into the kitchen to help her get dinner ready. Bo was making Tofu Pad Thai, one of Lauren's favorite dishes.

"Did you have a good day, Kenzi?" Bo asked.

"Yes, I did. I caught up on some reading and tried to take it easy," Kenzi said.

"Are you still starting to feel better? I know Migraines have to take a lot out of you. I had one once and it was a nightmare."

"Yes, I am. The nausea finally stopped and I was able to eat something for lunch. Yeah, Migraines are a killer."

"I'm glad to hear that," Bo said.

The two continued to get ready for dinner until they heard a knock on the door a little after 5.

"That must be Lauren. I'll get the door while you finish cooking," Kenzi offered. She had to remind herself to slow down as she felt a tiny wave of dizziness as she started walking to the front door.

She opened the door and sure enough, there was Lauren, holding a bouquet of flowers and a bottle of wine.

"Hey, Kenzi."

"Hey, Lauren," Kenzi said, motioning for her to come in.

Lauren followed Kenzi back into the kitchen where Lauren set the items down on the kitchen table, then went over to give her girlfriend a kiss. Then she came back over to where Kenzi was standing near the kitchen table.

"Are you feeling any better today, Kenzi? Bo mentioned you weren't feeling well and said you had a Migraine," Lauren asked, hoping she could get Kenzi talking.

She noticed right away that something looked different about Kenzi but couldn't pinpoint what it was.

"Yes, i'm feeling much better," Kenzi said, not liking the way Lauren was looking at her. She hoped that Lauren couldn't tell what she was doing.

Lauren noticed that Kenzi was wearing what appeared to be several layers of clothing. Her light red sweatshirt was falling off of one of her shoulders and Lauren could just make out a white long sleeved shirt underneath it. Had Kenzi lost weight recently? The young girl was already very thin to begin with.

Kenzi decided to get away from under Lauren's radar and offered to go put the flowers in a vase. Lauren went over to Bo to see if her girlfriend needed any help with dinner. 15 minutes later dinner was ready. The three sat down and Kenzi realized she needed to put her plan into action soon, before she was forced to actually take a bit of the food.

"Bo, Lauren, um, I apologize if this sounds awkward but I think maybe I should take my food upstairs and eat in my room while you two have a chance to be alone. I just...I know how much you two love having alone time and well, i'm still feeling a bit nauseous. You two are simply adorable together and I wouldn't want to interfere. Plus I feel like a bit of a third wheel," Kenzi said, hoping they would be okay with her leaving.

"Kenz, you know we love having you here as well. And you could never be a third wheel. Heck, sometimes you keep the conversation going when it dies. Not that it would..." Bo said, feeling a tad awkward herself.

"Bo is absolutely right, Kenzi, we love having you here. Your a lot of fun. However, I know I don't mind a bit if you don't feel like staying down here with us. I know Migraines take a lot out of people so if you want to go up to your room to eat, I won't be offended," Lauren said.

"Absolutely, Kenzi. If you would rather go eat in your room, I also won't be offended," Bo said.

"Thanks for understanding. And I promise, I will make it up to you too. Next time, I might even cook for you both," Kenzi said, as she smiled and grabbed her plate and glass of water, hoping she wouldn't get dizzy as she stood up.

She must have managed to go slow enough to avoid dizziness but not too slow to cause alarm, because she felt okay and made it to the stairs just fine. She took her time going up the stairs, not wanting to fall. She couldn't believe that Bo and Lauren had bought her story. Sometimes she thought it was too easy to avoid eating in front of her friends. She only hoped that she could continue to do so without anyone catching on to what she was going.

"Lauren, does something seem off with Kenzi to you? I mean, I know you just got here and you haven't seen her for awhile but does she seem different to you?" Bo asked, after Kenzi had left.

"I wasn't going to mention it but yeah, something does seem off with her. I mean maybe its because she's still not feeling great after her Migraine yesterday but she didn't even try to make jokes with me or anything tonight. Maybe I should ask her to come to my lab sometime soon. I wonder if she caught something when she was in the cave a few months ago," Lauren said.

"Yeah, maybe. I wish I knew what was going on with her. I feel like i'm losing my best friend," Bo said, nearly in tears.

"It's going to be okay, Bo. I promise. I will talk to her tomorrow and see if she's willing to let me do a few tests on her," Lauren said, reaching her hand out gently to grab Bo's hand.

"Thank you, Lauren. I don't know what i'd do without you," Bo said, smiling at her girlfriend.

Kenzi waited 15 minutes before taking her plate into the bathroom and scraping the contents into the toilet and flushing them down. She felt a little guilty not eating the food that Bo had worked so hard to make but at the same time she knew there's no way she could eat it. She had worked too hard the past few days to just give in now. She decided to go to bed early and got ready. She set her alarm for her usual time.

The next morning Kenzi completed her run and continued her usual morning routine. Bo woke up at 9:30 to a call about a rather urgent case. She needed Lauren, Tamsin, and Kenzi's help on it. They all agreed to go with her and ended up solving the case in just a few hours.

"What do you say we go grab some lunch, ladies? It's on me," Bo said.

"Sorry Bo, I have to go meet Hale or I would. Do you mind dropping me off at the Dal before you go?" Kenzi lied, definitely not interested in having to eat in front of her friends, or trying to pretend she was.

"No problem, Kenz," Bo said.

"Wait, I know this is bad timing, but Kenzi, I think there might be something wrong with you," Lauren said, stopping Kenzi in her tracks.

"What!? What are you talking about?" Kenzi said, getting very suspicious. Did Lauren know what she was doing?

"Kenzi, I think you may have picked up a virus when you were in the cave," Lauren said.

"But its been two months, Lauren. How is that even possible? I feel just fine. There's nothing wrong with me," Kenzi said, defensively.

"Kenzi, I just want to do a couple of tests, that's all. If you don't have a virus then you'll have nothing to worry about. And if you do, I can treat it," Lauren said.

"No, I'm not going to let you do any ridiculous testing on me. I have things to do," Kenzi said, starting to walk away.

"Kenzi? I think you should listen to Lauren. She's just trying to help," Bo said.

Lauren didn't really know if Kenzi had a virus or not. In fact she was pretty certain it wasn't a virus, but was something else. She just didn't know what just yet.

"I'm sorry Bo, but none of you know what it was like for me when I was in that cave. I don't even want to think about what went on and being in Lauren's lab would only bring back those memories. I have panic attacks just thinking about it," Kenzi said, hoping she could convince them to not make her go in. If Lauren did tests on her she was certain

she'd be able to tell that Kenzi hadn't been eating.

"Kenzi, I understand that your scared, I do, but I really just want to help you. I have a feeling you haven't been feeling so well lately and i'm thinking you may be sick. I just want to confirm it and then I'll leave you alone or treat you depending on the results."

Kenzi turned to face Bo, Lauren, and Tamsin, feeling rather angry at their persistence.

"Look, I don't know what you think is going on with me but your wrong. I am perfectly fine and I am capable of taking care of myself so if you don't mind, I think i'll just walk to the Dal," Kenzi said. She started to spin around and take off walking but was enveloped by a wave of dizziness.

Bo saw the look on Kenzi's face and realizing her friend was about to pass out, rushed over to her. She was right to have done so because Kenzi, unable to shake the dizzy feeling this time, started to pass out. Bo was right there to catch her as Kenzi passed out in her friends arms.


	4. Chapter 4

Bo gently lifted Kenzi into her arms, not believing how light her friend was.

"Lauren, something isn't right. And I can't believe how light she feels. Please, will you help her?" Bo said, panic evident in her voice.

"Yes, I think I can, Bo. Lets get her back to your place. I brought my medical bag with me so I can do tests there," Lauren said. Lauren was beginning to suspect that something really was wrong with Kenzi, she just didn't know what yet.

The 3 women quickly got into Bo's car, Bo still holding Kenzi in her arms. She hadn't come to just yet.

Kenzi knew that something was off the minute she opened her eyes. She was lying in Bo's bed and had no recollection of how she had gotten there. The last thing she remembered was trying to convince Lauren that she didn't need to go to her lab for testing.

"What's going on?" Kenzi asked Bo, who was standing next to her with a worried look on her face.

"Kenz, you passed out in my arms. Lauren is trying to find out why," Bo said.

"Kenzi, I'm pretty worried about you. Passing out is a sign that your body is telling you that something is wrong. I'm sorry that we have to go about this in the way we are but I think I have to perform some tests now," Lauren said. She had already grabbed the necessary items she would need to draw some blood from Kenzi and was walking over to where Kenzi lay on Bo's bed.

Kenzi was starting to panic inside, hoping that it wasn't obvious to her friends. She wanted to bolt out of the bed and run but she knew she had to at least try to play it cool or they would know something was up with her.

"Look, I probably just passed out from doing too much the past couple of days, after the Migraine I had. Sometimes I try to push myself to get back to normal a lot sooner than I should. Migraines take a lot out of me. I probably just need to take it easy for another day, is all. I really don't think its necessary for you to do any tests on me. I feel just fine. I'm just a little tired," Kenzi said.

She had fully intended to get out of Bo's bed at this point to prove that she was just fine, but as soon as she sat up she felt an incredible wave of dizziness and was forced to lay back down immediately. She closed her eyes, hoping it would pass so she could try again, and hoping that no one had noticed.

"Kenzi, your not well, my dear. I'm going to take some blood from you now and I think its best that you let me. It won't take but a minute and then I can start doing tests and see why you keep feeling dizzy and why you passed out," Lauren said, coming closer to Kenzi and attempting to take Kenzi's arm so she could clean it.

Kenzi let her. She realized that she was trapped now. There was no way she could get out of this part without giving herself away. She had to let Lauren take her blood. The only thing she could do now was wait for Lauren to tell her the results.

"I'm going to ask you some questions while I draw your blood, just to see how you've been feeling lately. I want you to answer me as honestly as you can. Have you been getting dizzy a lot lately?" Lauren asked.

"Its just been going on since I had the Migraine, which is not unusual for me." In reality she hadn't stopped being dizzy for more than an hour at a time.

"Have you had any unusual symptoms lately? Feeling strange, losing track of time, anything like that?" Lauren asked.

What the hell?! Did they think Kenzi had gone crazy or something? What kind of questions were these?

"Um, no, nothing like that," Kenz said. She was a little weirded out by Lauren's questions but realized that maybe they didn't know what she was doing.

"Okay, well, I think i'm going to let you rest for a bit. You look pretty tired," Lauren said, gathering her supplies.

Bo offered to stay with Kenzi to keep an eye on her and Tamsin said she would go downstairs and make some tea while Lauren checked out the results of the blood test.

It took Lauren about an hour to get the results back from Kenzi's testing. She had fully expected to find out that Kenzi had contracted a virus of something. She wouldn't have put it past Inari to have left her with something to remember her by, even after Dyson had killed her. What she did find shocked her. Kenzi appeared to be anemic and her blood sugar levels were very low. Her electrolytes were out of balance as well. Lauren realized that everything was starting to add up. Kenzi's weight loss appearance the other night, Kenzi making an excuse to get out of eating in front of her and Bo at dinner the other night, the dizziness Kenzi had been experiencing, the fact that she had passed out just a little bit ago, and Kenzi's hesitance to let her do any tests on her. That along with the test results made Lauren suspect that Kenzi might have an eating disorder.

Now that she was pretty sure she knew what was going on with Kenzi, Lauren began to realize that she now needed to tell Bo. This part was going to be hard. She didn't want to tell Bo, because Bo was going to blame herself for not having seen this coming. She hated seeing Bo hurt but she knew she had to tell her what was going on with her best friend.

"Bo, Tamsin, can I talk to you both for a few minutes downstairs?" Lauren said quietly, finding both Bo and Tamsin in the room with Kenzi again. Kenzi had fallen asleep.

"Sure," Bo said, following Lauren back downstairs.

"Well, the good news is, Kenzi doesn't have a virus. What I did find came as a bit of a shock to me. Kenzi's iron levels were incredibly low as well as her blood sugar levels. Her electrolytes were also quite a bit out of balance. I believe Kenzi is suffering from Anorexia. At first I wasn't sure what to make of her test results, then it hit me. Kenzi has been very dizzy lately, likely because her blood sugar is so low. Then she passed out earlier when her body couldn't handle her blood sugar being so low. She also acted kind of strange the other night when I was over here for dinner. She didn't want to eat in front of us and I didn't think much of it then but now I can see how she was probably trying to get out of eating. Bo, you have also noticed that she isn't herself and you commented earlier on how light she felt when she passed out in your arms. I think she's trying very hard to hide having an eating disorder," Lauren said.

"Wow, I have to admit I'm rather shocked. I honestly hadn't really thought about that as an option. She's been so distant lately, so that would definitely explain that. Why is she doing this to herself? I'm so worried about her!" Bo said, definitely shocked by what Lauren had just told her.

Tamsin was also in shock after hearing this. She thought she'd noticed Kenzi seemed a bit off lately, but she had never thought that it was because of an eating disorder. Tamsin knew all about Anorexia. Her little sister had been Anorexic for several years in high school and Tamsin had watched her fade away before finally getting help.

"What do we do now? Do we let her know that we know? She doesn't want us to know. She doesn't want me to know. She's like my little sister. Why didn't she tell me?" Bo asked, feeling hurt.

"I know this hurts, Bo, but trust me, I don't think Kenzi was trying to hurt you," Lauren said, gently taking Bo's hand in hers.

"Lauren's right Bo. Anorexia is a very sneaky disease. Believe me, I know. My sister was Anorexic," Tamsin said.

"Thanks you guys," Bo said, smiling at her two friends.

"I think we should confront her. We need her to tell us when the last time was that she ate. Depending on how long its been, that would definitely explain her fainting episode and why she got so dizzy even just sitting up," Lauren said.

"Okay, let's do this," Bo said, confident that they could get Kenzi to tell them the truth and help her.


	5. Chapter 5

Kenzi slept for about an hour before waking up. When she woke she was slightly confused about her surroundings. Then it all came back to her. She was in Bo's bed because she had passed out and Lauren had drawn her blood, trying to figure out why she had passed out. She realized that no one was currently in the room with her. Did that mean Lauren had found out what she was doing? If she did she had probably already told Bo and Tamsin by now. Panic began to set as she thought about what was going to happen next. She thought about sneaking downstairs and just running out the door, hoping that no one saw her. But lifting her head still caused her to become incredibly dizzy so that option was out. Her only option seemed to be to deny anything that Lauren said. She didn't have to tell anyone what she was really doing. If she played it cool then maybe she could get out of this. Assuming Lauren actually knew she hadn't been eating. There was still a chance that Lauren might just think she was sick or something. She heard the three women coming up the stairs just then, and her heart started pounding even faster.

Lauren, Tamsin, and Bo walked over to where Kenzi was still laying on the bed.

"Kenzi, I looked at your labs and what I found really scared me. Your sugar is really low and so is your iron. Your electrolytes are out of balance and you are in desperate need of IV fluids. We are all very concerned about you," Lauren said, "Have you been eating?"

"What? Of course I have," Kenzi said, getting very defensive.

"Kenzi, the results of the blood test are not the only things I'm concerned about. You also appear to have lost weight, even though you seem to be trying to hid it under the layers of clothing you've been wearing. I think you may have passed out because you aren't eating enough. If you aren't eating that would also explain why your sugar is so low. If your not eating I would like to know why and if its intentional. I think you may be suffering from an eating disorder," Lauren said.

"I'm not telling you shit, Lauren! You can't just come in here and start telling me what's wrong with me. And I do NOT have an eating disorder. I just haven't felt like eating a whole lot since I had that Migraine. I may have lost a few pounds because of it but it wasn't that many," Kenzi said, really hoping they would buy her lies.

Bo could tell that Kenzi was lying and decided to step in. She couldn't stand to see her best friend like this.

"Kenzi please, we are just worried about you. You haven't been yourself since before that Migraine. You've been very distant and I can tell that you've lost some weight and it doesn't look like just a few pounds. Have you really been eating?"

It was hard to resist the pleading look in Bo's eyes, as she tried to get Kenzi to tell the truth.

"Bo, I know I haven't been the same lately. I haven't been since that thing with Inari. But I don't have an eating disorder," Kenzi said.

"Okay, well, if you don't have an eating disorder then maybe you should eat something right now. It will help your sugar levels and you'll also probably feel a lot less dizzy. What have you eaten today, if anything?" Lauren asked.

"I..I can't, Lauren. If you want me to drink something with sugar in it then fine, i'll do that. But I really don't want to eat anything right now. I can't, I just...I'm not feeling so great. And I'm really not hungry...In fact, I feel really nauseous still."

"Your not feeling well because you need food. I'm going to ask you again, Kenzi. Have you eaten today?" Lauren asked.

"I don't have to tell you anything, Lauren! I can take care of myself. You can't prove that I haven't been eating," Kenzi said, trying again to sit up and get off the bed.

Bo stopped her this time.

"Kenzi, no, I won't let you leave right now. You are killing yourself and I won't just sit here and watch you. You are my best friend, Kenzi, and you aren't allowed to leave me," Bo said, having sat down on the bed next to Kenzi, and placing a hand on her shoulders to prevent her from getting up.

"Bo please, don't do this! You of all people should know that I can take care of myself. I did for all those years," Kenzi said.

"Kenzi, I can't do that. You need help and you can't even admit that you have a problem yet. And you shouldn't have had to take care of yourself all those years. Please, let us help you now," Bo pleaded.

Kenzi couldn't resist the plea in Bo's voice, especially when Bo placed her hand on Kenzi cheek and began using her succubus powers.

"Okay...you can...help me," Kenzi said, feeling dreamy and pleasant from Bo's touch.

"So Kenzi, have you really been eating lately?" Bo said, still using her powers.

"No, I haven't..."

"When was the last time you ate something?"

"Friday morning...it was Friday morning. I was trying to see how long I could go without eating...I just want to be beautiful..." Kenzi said.

"3 days?! She hasn't eaten for 3 days? No wonder she fainted!" Tamsin said, feeling very concerned about Kenzi.

"How long have you been starving yourself, Kenzi?" Bo asked.

"Since I came back from Inari's..." Kenzi said.

Bo released Kenzi, realizing they had the answers they were looking for. Kenzi really did have an eating disorder.

"What happened?" Kenzi said, as Bo's powers started to wear off of her.

"Kenz, why haven't you eaten in 3 days? That's a long time," Bo said, "And how long were you planning to go without eating?"

"Wait a minute, did you just succubus me to get me to talk?" Kenzi said, both angry and slightly amused all at the same time.

"I had to, Kenzi. You weren't telling us the truth, and we were really worried about you," Bo said.

"I was trying to lose weight faster...I wasn't going to stop until I got too hungry to continue," Kenzi admitted. It wouldn't do any good to lie to her friends anymore if they already knew the truth.

"Kenzi, you don't even need to lose weight. You were thin before. Why do you think you have to lose more weight?" Bo asked.

"I'm sorry, Bo, but I can't talk about this right now. Its just too much," Kenzi pleaded as she started to cry for the first time in awhile.

"It's okay, Kenzi. I'm not going to leave you though," Bo said, wrapping her arms around her friend.

"Kenzi you do realize that your going to have to eat something now, right? We need to get some calories in you so that you will stop passing out and feeling so dizzy," Lauren said, not wanting to make Kenzi eat, but knowing she had to push the issue or Kenzi was going to go downhill fast. She knew this whole situation was killing Bo and she was going to try and stop it if she could, before Kenzi got worse. She was pretty sure Kenzi was going to fight them pretty hard.

"You can't make me eat. You can't force feed me against my will. I'm over 18," Kenzi said, getting defensive again as she realized Lauren wasn't going to let this go.

"Kenzi, please, we just want to help you. We aren't trying to hurt you, I promise. We just don't want you to die," Tamsin said, realizing she couldn't just stand by anymore. Kenzi needed help and it was killing Tamsin to watch her go through this. Kenzi meant a lot to her, seeing as how she had practically raised her when she had regained a life.

"But you all don't understand, I was doing so good! I didn't eat for 3 days. I'm not ready to break that streak just because I passed out. Not when I'm so close to being...beautiful," Kenzi said.

"Kenzi, your already beautiful. And you were even more beautiful when you hadn't lost so much weight," Tamsin said.

"Please, eat, Kenzi. You've lost too much weight. If you lose anymore..." Bo started to say but was cut off by Kenzi.

"Fine, I'll eat. At least a little bit," Kenzi said, tiring of fighting. She could eat enough to gain some strength and convince her friends that she was better. The last thing she wanted to do was to hurt Bo, but she couldn't stop thinking about what Inari had said to her in the cave. She had no choice but to continue losing weight or she would never be good enough.

Lauren brought Kenzi a tray of food. She'd tried to find things that would be easy for Kenzi to eat. A mug of chicken noodle soup, some crackers with peanut butter, and a glass of apple juice. Kenzi began to slowly eat some of the soup. She wanted to gag as it went down her throat but she stopped herself. She had to pretend that she was just fine. She had to convince her friends so they would think she was fine. She ate half of the soup, 1 cracker and drank a few sips of the apple juice before her stomach wouldn't let her eat anymore.

"Kenzi, i'm really proud of you. You did great. Now you have to continue to get better. I want the old Kenzi back," Bo said.

"I didn't go anywhere, Bo," Kenzi said.

The words Kenzi had just said still echoed in Bo's head later that evening, even after Kenzi had fallen asleep and Tamsin had gone downstairs to help Lauren clean up the kitchen. Bo had stayed next to Kenzi, not wanting to leave her friends side. Bo knew that Kenzi was still there but it sure hadn't felt like it the past few weeks. Kenzi hadn't been her usual self, yet she had insisted that she was fine. That nothing was wrong with her even as she had continued to hide her eating disorder from Bo. How was she going to help her best friend if she kept lying to her? She would do anything for Kenzi. It really scared her that Kenzi had kept her eating disorder a secret and that she could possibly lose Kenzi if she didn't start eating properly and stop losing weight. Yes, she would do whatever it took to help Kenzi get better and back to her old self. She wasn't about to let her best friend kill herself.


	6. Chapter 6

Lauren came back upstairs an hour later to start Kenzi on IV fluids. Kenzi had fallen asleep, exhausted from the days events. Bo was still sitting next to Kenzi's side.

"Hey Bo, how are you doing?" Lauren asked as she started to pull out supplies to start the IV line.

"Okay, I guess. I still can't believe she's doing this to herself," Bo said, standing and walking over to where Lauren was standing next to Kenzi's bed.

"I know this has to be a bit of a shock for you, Bo, seeing her like this. It makes me wonder what else went on when she was in that cave," Lauren said.

"Yes, it sure has been a shock. I've also been wondering what caused her to do this to herself. I'll do whatever it takes to help her," Bo said, nearly breaking down just thinking about her best friend.

" I know Bo, I know," Lauren said, finishing up with the IV and then walking over to Bo. She took Bo's hands.

"The good news is I think we can help her. She needs you now more than ever and as long as we can get her to start eating again and gaining some weight back, I think she will be fine. She hasn't done too much damage to her body...yet. We definitely caught it in time. And Bo, she's got you, her best friend, to help her through this," Lauren said, before taking Bo in her arms. Bo welcomed being held by her girlfriend and felt herself sink into Lauren's comforting arms.

Lauren held Bo in her arms for a long time, realizing just how hard this was on her girlfriend.

Lauren had just let go of Bo when Tamsin walked into Bo's bedroom, lightly knocking on the doorframe to let them both know she was there.

"Hey, Tamsin," Bo said, smiling at the Valkyrie.

"Hey, Bo. How's Kenzi?" Tamsin asked. She was finding it hard to hide the concern she had for the human, both because she had watched her sister go through the same thing and because she realized how much she cared about Kenzi.

"She's doing okay, for now. Lauren started her on some IV fluids and she's been asleep for a little while now," Bo said.

"That's good to hear. How are you holding up, Bo? Do you need anything? I was going to offer to take over sitting with Kenzi for the night if you wanted to go get some rest," Tamsin offered, very much hoping that Bo would take her up on her offer.

"I'm doing okay. Just very concerned about her. I think I might just take you up on your offer, if your sure you don't mind? I don't want to leave her, but I know she'll be in good hands if you sit with her," Bo said.

"Not at all, Bo. You look pretty worn out," Tamsin said.

"Thanks Tamsin."

Lauren and Bo went downstairs and Tamsin found herself alone with Kenzi. She sat down in the chair next to where Kenzi lay in Bo's bed. She looked down at Kenzi's sleeping face. Just looking at her face she realized how pale and thin Kenzi had become. She looked so fragile lying in the bed. Tamsin took Kenzi's hand in her own, hoping she wouldn't wake the human, as that wasn't her intention. She wished that she could take Kenzi's pain and hurt away. She wished she could climb into the bed with Kenzi and hold the frail girl in her arms, but she didn't dare do so, for fear of Kenzi's reaction. She sat holding Kenzi's hand for the next couple of hours. It was nearing midnight when she saw Kenzi stir a little. Kenzi's eyes suddenly opened and Tamsin watched her look over at her friend, a look of surprise on her face. She still looked half asleep and must have been really tired but managed a small smile before she closed her eyes and dozed off again. Tamsin kept quiet, not wanting to wake Kenzi fully as she knew she needed to rest.

Lauren came in at 3 am to put a new IV bag up. She asked Tamsin if she wanted her to take over for a few hours but Tamsin said she was fine so Lauren went back downstairs.

Finally at 6 am, Kenzi woke again, this time appearing to be more awake. She looked over at the person sitting next to her, realizing it was Tamsin.

"Hey, Kenz. How you feeling?"

"Hey, I feel okay. Is it morning already?"

"It sure is."

"What time is it?"

"Right around 6 am."

"Crap, I missed my morning work out. I guess my alarm didn't go off," Kenzi said, pushing the blanket off of her and attempting to get up.

"Wow, slow down, sweetie, you don't want to get dizzy again," Tamsin said, realizing Kenzi had no intention of giving up her workout routine, even if she had passed out the day before.

"It's okay, I feel just fine. I still have time to get in a workout. I'll just be a little later this morning," Kenzi said, making an attempt to stand up before realizing that something was in her right hand.

"I don't think your going to be working out today, Kenzi. Do you remember passing out yesterday? Your body is in no shape for you to start exercising again," Tamsin said, noticing that Kenzi had noticed the IV. She realized that Kenzi might start to panic in a second and was prepared to help calm down the human if she started to freak out.

"Is there an IV in my hand?" Kenzi asked.

"Yes. Lauren started it shortly after you fell asleep last night. She said you were pretty dehydrated."

"Um, okay. Well, do you think you could tell her to take it out now?" Kenzi said, panic starting to rise in her voice.

"Kenzi, I'm not sure that's such a good idea, but I understand that you might be feeling kind of panicky about having it in your arm," Tamsin said, hoping she could calm Kenzi down.

Kenzi noticed that Tamsin had heard the panic in her voice and realized that she had to stop herself from panicking. There's no way she was going to admit that she was terrified of all the weight she felt she would gain from the IV fluids.

"Okay, well, maybe its okay then. I think i'm going to lie back down again. Feeling a bit dizzy," Kenzi said, hoping that laying back down would push the fear from her mind.

Tamsin helped her get situated in the bed again and then carefully placed the blanket back over her. Tamsin reached for Kenzi's hand, the one without the IV. She was pleasantly surprised when Kenzi reached back to take Tamsin's hand.

"I know this part is hard, Kenzi. Everything in you wants to fight the IV in your hand. You can't stand the thought that liquid is being poured through your body. That it might possibly be causing you to gain weight. I wish I could tell you that part goes away quickly, but I can't. It will be there for awhile. But one day, you won't be so scared anymore. One day, you will be able to eat without feeling that terrifying feeling," Tamsin said.

Kenzi found herself looking up into Tamsin's eyes. She detected concern mixed with fear? Why was Tamsin feeling afraid? Was she afraid of what was happening to Kenzi? Or something else? She started to feel calmness washing through her body, something she hadn't felt for awhile. She stared into the Valkyrie's eyes, wishing she could read her thoughts. She jumped as she heard a voice near the door.

"Kenzi my dear, how are you feeling this morning?" Lauren asked as she walked through the doorway.

Tamsin had seen the calmer look in Kenzi's eyes as she had looked into hers. For a moment it was as if Kenzi knew exactly what she was thinking. She felt like maybe she was getting through to Kenzi when Lauren had walked in, interrupting the moment.

"Fine, just fine," Kenzi said, back to pretending that there was nothing wrong with her. She wanted to look back over at Tamsin and find out why she had looked afraid but she stopped herself. She couldn't get too involved and she certainly couldn't let her guard down. If she did she might stop what she was doing and then her efforts would be for nothing.

Tamsin watched as Kenzi closed up again. She felt like she had almost gotten through to her. She had almost told Kenzi about her sister's struggle. She had almost let herself be vulnerable and open to someone about the pain she'd felt years ago. Then it was gone in a flash.

"Kenzi, if your okay with it I think i'd like to get another bag of IV fluids in you. That should be enough to help your electrolytes start to balance out again. I'd also like you to eat something for me again. If you can start eating normally again I think we can get you back to your normal self. Luckily you didn't do too much damage to your body yet. If you continue to eat, your going to be just fine," Lauren said.

"Okay, that's fine. I just want to put this all past me," Kenzi said, hoping to get out from under the watchful eyes of Lauren and the others as quickly as she could.

"I do recommend that maybe you go see therapist. You need to talk to someone about what you went through a few months ago. I think it would help in your recovery," Lauren said.

Kenzi wanted to laugh in Lauren's face at the mention of a therapist but realized that she needed to pretend that she would move forward and a therapist sounded like a good move. She didn't actually have to see one, she just had to make Lauren and the others think she was going to, so she nodded her head in agreement. Kenzi would pretend to see a therapist if she had to and she would continue eating without fighting until she could make them believe she was doing just fine. She only hoped that her body wouldn't get used to eating so much. She knew that there were ways to trick people into thinking she as continuing to eat. She would pull those tricks out if she had to.


	7. Chapter 7

Kenzi continued to eat for the next few days and after Lauren had taken more blood work on the 4th day, Lauren was assured that Kenzi was doing much better and felt she was more stable now. Lauren told Bo that Kenzi appeared to be making progress and that it was okay for them to back off a bit. It was time to see if Kenzi would continue to be able to get better without being watched around the clock.

The next morning Bo was up when Kenzi came downstairs in her jogging gear. She was happy to be out from under the other girls eyes and couldn't wait to get back to jogging. She stopped dead in her tracks when she realized that Bo was in the kitchen, making breakfast.

"Hey, Kenzi, your up early. Where are you going?" Bo asked as she stirred some flour into a bowl.

"I could ask the same of you, Bo, your never up this early. I was just going to go for a little walk. I haven't exercised in days and now that i'm feeling stronger I think walking would make me feel better," Kenzi said, hoping her friend would buy her story.

"Your wearing jogging gear to go on a walk, Kenz? Are you sure your aren't planning to go for a run? You should probably hold off on the running until your a bit stronger..."

Kenzi noticed the worried look on Bo's face and it almost stopped her from going. Then she remembered how she had eaten so much in the past 5 days, just to make Bo and her other friends think she was better. She wouldn't be able to live with herself if she didn't at least attempt to burn off the many calories she'd taken in that week.

"Bo, I know your worried about me but really, i'm fine. I'm eating again and I just want to put this whole eating problem behind me now so I can get on with my life. And really, I just wanted to go for a walk, maybe run for a few minutes, just something so I can feel alive again," Kenzi said.

"Okay, Kenzi, I trust you. But please, don't be gone long, okay? I'm making my famous strawberry pancakes and I think you should be here when breakfast is ready."

"I'll be back in 30 minutes, promise."

"I'll hold you to it, missy," Bo said, smiling at Kenzi as she walked out the door. She only hoped Kenzi wasn't lying to her again.

Kenzi hurriedly walked out the door and turned a corner so she could start running out of the sight of her friend. If she only had 30 minutes to run, she would have to make it count.

Kenzi was out of breath when she got done and decided to walk around outside for a few extra minutes so that she didn't look like she had been running. She was already worried about the pancakes that she was going to have to eat in front of Bo.

"Hey, you made it. I was just about to call your cell and see what was taking you so long," Bo joked.

"Sorry, Bo, ran into an old friend on the way back and we got carried away talking," Kenzi lied.

"That's the Kenzi I remember," Bo said, laughing as she put a stack of pancakes in front of Kenzi, covered in strawberries, maple syrup, and whipped cream.

Kenzi quickly did a calculation of how many calories there probably were in just the pancakes alone. She tried to figure out how big the pancakes had to be and guessed they were medium sized so about 90 calories each. Bo had put 4 pancakes on Kenzi's plate so that was 360 calories for just the pancakes, but since Kenzi didn't know what all Bo had put in them she decided to round that up to 400 calories, just in case. Then there were the strawberries inside of the pancakes plus the ones on top so she guessed maybe 40 total for them and she guessed 250 calories at least in the syrup and maybe 15 for the whipped cream. She decided to round it all up again just to be safe and decided the whole plate was probably 750 calories. She could probably force down ½ of it at least so her breakfast would be around 400 calories. She only hoped that she would be able to sneak away later and exercise some more. If she could exercise enough while under Bo's watchful eye, she could probably get rid of most of the calories she was going to be forced to eat. She was also very concerned about the food she'd been forced to eat the past 4 days and wanted to run to the scale and weigh herself immediately but decided to play it cool. She hadn't had the courage to get her scale out of hiding yet to see what she weighed for fear of what it would say.

"That was really good, Bo. Your pancakes are never disappointing," Kenzi said, smiling at her friend. She had managed half the plate of pancakes and was empowered by the fact that she had stopped before eating the entire plate. She felt like she was still in control. There's no way she was going to let anyone tell her how much she had to eat, if they were going to insist that she do so.

Bo had seen the way Kenzi had looked down at the pancakes for a long time before eating them, perhaps to try and calculate how many calories she was about to eat? She had then eaten half the plate of pancakes, though, so Bo couldn't really complain. This all still felt so new to her. Tamsin and Lauren had sat down with her earlier that week and had gone over a lot of things that Kenzi might have been doing, to help Bo look out for them. It was insane the lengths that someone with an eating disorder would got to, just to get out of eating. At the same time Bo could understand the reasons why people would develop an eating disorder and she intended to help Kenzi get better.

I'm glad, and i'm always willing to make them for you. I'll make you pancakes every morning if you want me to," Bo said.

"If you do that, your totally going to make me fat!" Kenzi said, half joking, but then realizing it probably wasn't the best thing to joke about given recent events.

"Sorry, Bo, I didn't mean it like..I'm doing okay now, really."

"It's okay, Kenz, I was pretty sure you were joking. But Kenz, I'm always here if you need to talk...about anything," Bo said.

"Thanks, Bo-Bo. You really are awesome," Kenzi said.

"Anytime, Kenz. So what are your plans for today?"

"I'm going to go see Hale. He's been texting me every day for a week now, asking me when he could see me."

"That boy is so in love with you he can't see straight," Bo joked, as she went back to washing dishes.

Kenzi smiled and told her friend bye before heading upstairs to shower and get dressed. She wasn't really going to see Hale. She had secretly broken things off with the siren a week ago, saying she needed some space but asking him to keep it on the lowdown. Hale had seemed upset but wanting to respect Kenzi's wishes had backed off.

Kenzi was actually on her way to go join a gym she had seen nearby. She figured that having a place to go exercise away from the apartment would make it so she could exercise a little more secretly. And she could always bring her gym clothes with her and shower at the gym and no one would be able to tell that she had even been working out.

She spent several hours at the gym working out then several more hours surfing the internet. She skipped lunch, figuring Bo thought that she was probably still with Hale. She arrived back home close to 4pm and was surprised

to see Bo was already in the kitchen making something.

"What's going on, Bo? Your home early," Kenzi said. She suspected that Bo was trying to make sure she ate really well and continued to gain weight. Kenzi loved her friend but she had to admit that she was starting to get annoyed by all the extra attention, not to mention the extra calories.

"I decided to make you my Mom's famous lasagna for dinner. It takes 2 hours to make so I thought I'd start early," Bo said, hoping she wasn't making Kenzi think she was forcing her to eat. She just wanted her friend to start getting better and if she was cooking for Kenzi she could make sure her friend was eating.

"You are too sweet to me, Bo-Bo. But seriously, you don't have to keep doing this. I'm eating. I'm not going to start staving myself again and I want you to be able to trust me," Kenzi said.

"I know Kenzi, I just...well, I just can't stand the thought that I might lose you if you go back to not eating again. And making you food myself makes me feel a little bit better. If you want me to start backing off I will, but really, I just love you so much I can't stand to think that you might stop eating again," Bo admitted.

"I know, Bo, I know. But i'm okay, really. If making me food makes you feel better, i'm okay with that. At least for now," Kenzi said, smiling at her best friend and then walking over to hug her. She felt horrible lying to Bo, but didn't know what else to do. There's no way she was going to stop what she was doing right now.

"Well good, because i'm telling you, my Mom's lasagna is going to knock your socks off!" Bo said.

The two friends laughed and joked for awhile as Bo worked on the lasagna. Kenzi realized she was actually enjoying herself for once in a long time.

"Oh, Kenzi, I forgot to mention this, but I invited Lauren and Tamsin to dinner. I hope that's okay with you?" Bo asked sheepishly.

"Why wouldn't it be?" Kenzi asked, though she was not too happy that all 3 of them would now be watching her eat dinner.

"I just wasn't sure how you'd feel after this past week."

"It's fine, Bo, really," Kenzi said, putting on her best fake smile.

Kenzi could smile and pretend as much as she had to if it meant she could get everyone off her back.


	8. Chapter 8

Tamsin and Lauren arrived at Bo's place an hour later and helped Bo finish getting dinner ready. Soon after they were all sitting down and Bo loaded heaping piles of the gooey lasagna onto plates along with salad and garlic bread.

"So Kenzi, did you have fun with Hale today? What did you guys do?" Bo asked, once they were all ready to eat.

"Hale?" Kenzi asked, momentarily forgetting that she had told Bo she was with Hale all day.

"Oh, Hale. Yeah, um we had fun. We walked around for awhile and then he took me to lunch at a little cafe he knew of that was downtown. We walked back to his place afterwards and watched a movie for a bit," Kenzi said, hoping she sounded convincing. She really hate lying to Bo.

"Sounds like you had a fun day," Bo said.

The 4 of them continued to talk and eat, Kenzi trying to eat as much as she felt she could. Her mind of course was doing all sorts of calculations as she tried to figure out how many calories she was eating. After dinner was over Kenzi felt awful. She had managed to eat a little over half of everything and her stomach did not like the idea. She was terrified of what the scale was going to say the next morning. She was about to panic when she realized that she had forgotten an option she had done once or twice before when she had eaten too much. She could make herself throw up. She would have to act very casual about it though, or she might raise suspicions, especially since everyone still seemed to be watching her every time she ate. She helped clean up after dinner and when that was done mumbled an excuse about going upstairs while Bo was busy and slipped off to the bathroom. She turned the faucet on hoping to drown out the sounds she was likely going to make. She hadn't done this in quite some time. She grabbed a toothbrush to help bring everything up easier.

While Kenzi was in the bathroom vomiting Tamsin had gone upstairs. She had heard Kenzi mumble an excuse to leave the kitchen and she was pretty sure she knew what Kenzi was doing, seeing as how she had watched her sister sneak away after meals to go make herself throw up. She quietly listened outside the door and could make out the sounds of Kenzi retching. She wanted to sink to the floor and cry, just hearing what Kenzi was doing to herself but she also didn't want Kenzi to see her. She was afraid Kenzi would be mad at her and think she was spying on her. She decided to sneak back downstairs before Kenzi came out of the bathroom. She was really torn about what she was suppose to do now that she had heard Kenzi making herself sick. Should she confront either Bo or Lauren, or neither of them? After going back and forth in her mind about it for several minutes she decided not to say anything to either of her friends just yet. She could always just keep an eye on Kenzi for now and maybe even start tracking her a bit, just to see if the behavior continued. It had seemed like Kenzi was trying very hard to convince everyone that she was just fine, when in reality she was likely planning to go behind everyone's back and continue losing weight. When the time was right Tamsin would confront Kenzi herself.

Kenzi joined the others back downstairs shortly after vomiting and was pleased to see that it didn't appear she'd been missed. The last thing she needed was one of them finding out she wasn't keeping her food down.

The next few weeks went by without much new happening. Kenzi continued to eat the meals that Bo made her and vomiting them back up when she felt too full. Bo was satisfied with Kenzi's progress, at least as far she could tell and started to back off. She as also becoming increasingly busy as there was a lot of activity going on in the Fae world and she was needed more often.

Kenzi was able to start exercising more after the first week and planned her days around exercising, eating very little, and spending time with Hale, or so Bo and everyone else thought. She had managed to avoid meeting with Hale more than once or twice when he had started to show some concern for her. Kenzi had put on as much of a show for him as she could, telling him that she was taking a few classes at the local college and otherwise keeping busy with a fake job. At one point he began to question why she had dark circles under her eyes and appeared so tired all the time and she was able to keep him at bay but telling him that she was running herself ragged with the classes/job and that she hadn't been sleeping well due to stress. She assured him that she would back off one the semester was over and maybe even take a break. He wanted to press her further but she kept insisting that she was fine. She told him that she likely wouldn't see him for a few weeks because she was just too busy but that maybe when the semester was over, they could consider having some alone time and possibly reconciling their relationship. That answer seemed to please him and he had backed off to let her continue the semester without interruption.

Tamsin had been following Kenzi whenever she had a free moment, which wasn't as often as she would have liked, what with everything going on in the Fae world. She had learned that Kenzi was working out an insane amount of hours at a local gym, that she could often be found writing page upon page in a notebook, likely about what little she was eating when she wasn't around Bo, or wandering through the streets aimlessly, looking very distant and not really having any destination in mind. She watched as Kenzi at less and less and threw up pretty much anytime she ate in front of Bo or anyone else. She could see weight falling off of Kenzi again and it appeared that Kenzi was trying very hard to hide her weight loss. She wore many layers of clothing and put on tons of makeup to try and hide the dark circles under her eyes and her pale cheeks. Many times Tamsin wanted to step in and tell Kenzi she knew that what she was doing and tell her that she wanted to help her but time after time she stopped herself, not wanting Kenzi to reject her. It wasn't until 3 weeks later and Tamsin realized she need to do something.

Tamsin had managed to sneak into Kenzi's room and found several of Kenzi's food diaries. Kenzi had written page upon page of her daily food intake, food fears, exercise plans, a list of safe foods/bad foods that she had come up with but even more haunting was the way she talked about herself in the diaries. It was as if Kenzi based each day upon whether or not she ate too much and when she did she wrote page upon page to herself and how disgusting she was, how she was never going to be good enough for anyone, and how she had to do better the next day. Tamsin had felt very guilty sneaking up to Kenzi's room but felt that she had no choice as she watched Kenzi fade away. She even began to feel guilty about following Kenzi around but she knew why she was doing it and realized that she couldn't just stand back and watch Kenzi kill herself anymore.

Tamsin was trying to figure out how best to go about confronting Kenzi. She still wasn't sure if she should say something to Bo and Lauren first or not. Whatever her decision, she knew that Kenzi was going to deny everything

that she said so she had to go about this in the best way possible. She found her chance one night as she watched Kenzi come out of the gym for a late evening workout. Kenzi had walked out of the gym and right away Tamsin could tell even from her hiding place that Kenzi wasn't doing so well. She stumbled a bit as she stepped off of the stairs that led up to the gym and had grabbed onto the railing for a few seconds for support before trying to continue walking. She had then started her walk home but after only a few minutes had become quite dizzy and Tamsin had watched her grab onto the wall for support. She had finally stopped walking and leaned up against the wall for support, but finding that she was too dizzy to stand up, had let herself slide down to the ground. Tamsin couldn't stand to watch Kenzi like this anymore and had quickly walked over to where Kenzi sat, her head on her knees as she tried to stop the dizziness.

"Kenzi, it's me, Tamsin. It's going to be okay. I'm guessing your feeling pretty dizzy," Tamsin said, touching Kenzi on the shoulder before sliding down to sit next to her.

Kenzi had frozen at hearing Tamsin's voice but hadn't lifted her head yet, feeling too dizzy to do so.

"Hey, Tamsin," Kenzi said in a muffled voice.

"Hey, sweetie. I'm glad I was able to catch up with you. This will give us a chance to talk," Tamsin said.

"Talk? What about?" Kenzi said, slowing lifting her head from her knees.

"Your still starving yourself, aren't you, Kenz?" Tamsin said, deciding not to even bother beating around the bush at this point. She was too concerned about Kenzi.

"I don't know what your talking about, Tamsin. I just got a little dizzy after my workout. It happens sometimes when I go for too long."

"See, Kenzi, I know your lying. You know how I know your lying? Because my si...someone I once knew, used to do the exact same thing. Anytime I would try to tell her that she was still starving herself, she would come up with a reason for why I was wrong. I could tell she was lying because she got dizzy so often that it wasn't hard to miss. She never thought I noticed, but I did."

"You used to know someone with an eating disorder?" Kenzi said, momentarily distracted from trying to deny everything she was doing and curious.

"Yep, I sure did. She was 14 when it first started," starting to remember back to when she had first noticed her sister wasn't eating.

Kenzi noticed the hurt in Tamsin's eyes and began to wonder if this was what she had been about to tell Kenzi that day that she had sat by Kenzi's bedside.

"Did your sister get better?"

Tamsin looked over at Kenzi, hurt very much apparent in her eyes and shocked that Kenzi had realized it was Tamsin's sister.

"I thought she was getting better. She had started to eat again, with my help and she seemed to be making progress. Our parents weren't around much. They were too busy arguing with each other and when they weren't arguing the both buried themselves in their jobs. So I took on the role of helping her. I was 19 at the time and had started college just a few months earlier, but was still living at home to save money. I would sit at the kitchen table with her and tell her she had to eat something or I wouldn't let her leave the kitchen. She knew I was serious too. I was much stronger than her and could have easily stopped her from leaving. Sometimes it would take her hours but she would eventually eat and I would stay with her until she could no longer make herself sick. But then she started staying after school, making up excuses for being in clubs that she wasn't really in. I believed her and thought she was getting better, but I was wrong. She was spending hours running around the track at her school. She collapsed one afternoon while running and...I got the call that she had been taken to the emergency room. I made it there just in time to see her face full of fear. Then she had a heart attack...and she didn't make it," Tamsin said, tears starting to flow down her face.

Kenzi was taken aback by Tamsin's confession, and wrapped her arms around the Valkyrie. Tamsin continued to sob and Kenzi let her take Kenzi into her arms and hold her as she let out the pain she was feeling. A few minutes later Tamsin realized that she was holding the small human in her arms. She looked down at Kenzi, feeling so much love and concern for her friend.

"That's why I couldn't stand to see what your doing to yourself, Kenzi. Can you honestly tell me that you haven't been continuing to starve yourself?"

Kenzi looked down at the ground before speaking.

"I never stopped, Tamsin. I couldn't stop. So I tried to pretend that I was just fine, so Bo would believe me. I didn't want her to know what I was still doing," Kenzi admitted.

"I'm so glad that you feel you can be honest with me, Kenzi. It's so hard watching you fade away these past few weeks. I started following you because I had a feeling you hadn't stopped and I couldn't stand to see you do this to yourself."

Kenzi couldn't believe how much Tamsin really care about her and what happened to her, but still being clouded by her eating disorder she began to wonder if this meant Tamsin was going to tell Bo what she was doing. She didn't want Bo to know, just yet. She didn't want to stop what she was doing and she wasn't sure if she could.

"Are you going to tell Bo what i'm still doing, Tamsin? I'm not sure she can handle it. She was so worried about me and at first she kept trying to make sure I was eating and then I guess she thought I was just fine so she backed off and...if she finds out I didn't stop...I don't know what she's going to say."

"I'll tell you what, Kenz. I won't say anything to her...just yet, and I might even be willing to let you tell her. But you have to come back to my place with me and at least drink something, so you don't pass out. I'm pretty sure you got so dizzy tonight because you are working out so much and probably aren't eating very much...if anything," Tamsin said.

"Okay, I'll come with you. And I'll drink something," Kenzi said, smiling up at Tamsin. She felt like she could trust Tamsin, like she really understood what she was going through. She wasn't sure if she was actually going to stop what she was doing but she felt safe with Tamsin by her side.


	9. Chapter 9

Tamsin helped Kenzi get up off the ground and held onto her as she led the small human back to her apartment. Kenzi began to realize just how weak she really was as she had to lean on Tamsin for support several times ,as they slowly made their way to Tamsin's place. Tamsin kept asking Kenzi if she was okay and if she wanted to stop for a few minutes, but Kenzi only willingly stopped once when she felt incredibly dizzy. They finally made it to Tamsin's a half hour later and Tamsin unlocked her door and led Kenzi inside.

"Here, why don't you sit down on the couch and i'll make you something to drink," Tamsin said, leading Kenzi to her couch and helping her sit down before going into her kitchen.

Tamsin had already decided exactly what she was going to give Kenzi. She was particularly fond of green juice smoothies and always kept some in her fridge so she grabbed a glass and poured some for Kenzi. She figured it would be exactly what Kenzi's body needed right now and would help her feel much less dizzy without her actually having to eat food, something she was pretty sure Kenzi didn't want to do at the moment.

"Here Kenzi, I brought you some green juice. Trust me, its really good, and it will be really good for your body. Hopefully it will be easy for you to get down," Tamsin said, handing the glass to Kenzi.

Kenzi hesitantly took the glass, not wanting to have to put any calories in her body right now but knowing that if she didn't she would likely pass out soon. She had worked out for 4 hours that afternoon alone and the only thing she had managed to eat that day was an apple, which had taken her an hour to eat, that morning.

"Thanks Tamsin," Kenzi said, smiling over at her friend.

Tamsin sat down on the couch next to Kenzi, not entirely certain what to do next but wanting to be close to Kenzi.

"So Kenzi, how often have you been working out at the gym?"

"I go every day, usually in the mornings and sometimes I stay a few hours, sometimes all day. Today I got there around 9 am and workout out for 2 hours then took a break to do some things on my computer. Around 3 I realized I couldn't sit still anymore so I decided to go work out again and I found I couldn't stop. 4 hours later I finally had to stop when I got dizzy and that's when I decided to head home and got really dizzy," Kenzi said.

"So you worked out 6 hours just today? Did you...did you eat anything today? I hate asking you that, because i'm not trying to nag you about eating, but I'm concerned..."

"I ate an apple this morning, but nothing else today."

"My sister used to do that too. She would eat something in the morning just so she could have something to keep her going, but it was never a lot. Then she would jog for like 2 hours and after school she usually had track practice so she would go another hour then and most days would make herself workout at least another hour before going to bed," Tamsin said, pain in her eyes as memories began to flood her mind again.

"What was your sisters name?" Kenzi asked, as she took a small sip of the drink.

"Kayleigh."

"I bet she was beautiful, just like her sister," Kenzi said, smiling over at Tamsin. She hated seeing Tamsin feeling so upset. It had to be horrible to watch your own sister die and not be able to do anything about it.

"She was. Especially before her eating disorder. She was a knock out. And Kenzi, your beautiful too. You know that, right? I know you probably don't feel like you are...but you are absolutely beautiful...to me," Tamsin said, nearly choking on her words. She was not sure how Kenzi was going to react to what she had just said. She really liked Kenzi and she was beginning to realize it wasn't just an "as a friend" type thing anymore.

"You...you think i'm beautiful?" Kenzi said, not having expected to hear that from the Valkyrie.

"I do. Your pretty hot...for a human," Tamsin said, feeling flirty but also not believing she'd just said that.

"Um...could I use your bathroom, Tamsin?" Kenzi asked. She was feeling several different things at once. First, she realized that she was feeling something for Tamsin, and she wasn't sure if she liked that she felt that way or not. Second, she wanted to blush at Tamsin's last comment. Was she flirting with Kenzi? Third, she had just looked down at the glass when Tamsin had made her last comment and realized that she had absentmindedly drank over half of the green smoothie. She wasn't sure she was okay with having the calories in her body even if they were very healthy calories and she knew that they would help ease the pains she had felt in her stomach from hunger. The pains she had felt for nearly the entire day.

Tamsin wasn't sure if Kenzi was reacting to her comment by trying to get away from Tamsin or if she had realized she had nearly drank the entire glass of smoothie. Perhaps both? But she wasn't about to let Kenzi run off to the bathroom so soon after drinking it. She knew that it would be too tempting for Kenzi to throw up right now.

"Um, Kenzi, I'm not sure its such a good idea for you to leave this room right now. I don't know how to put this...but...I think you may have been making yourself throw up after you eat, lately. I think that's how you've been fooling Bo into thinking your actually eating."

"What?! How do you know that I...why do you think i've been doing that?" Kenzi said, realizing she had nearly admitted to doing just what Tamsin had described.

"Kenzi, i've sort of been...watching you. Like following you and such. But even before that I heard you making yourself throw up that night that Bo invited Lauren and I to dinner. You snuck off after dinner and I heard you in the bathroom making yourself sick. I followed you because...I was pretty sure your eating disorder hadn't just stopped so quickly. I followed you because...because I care about you," Tamsin said, not feeling quite so confident about admitting all this to Kenzi. She wasn't looking forward to Kenzi's reaction.

"Tamsin, I think I need to go home now. I'll just walk since its not too far," Kenzi said, getting up and grabbing her bag, preparing to walk out the door.

Tamsin wasn't entirely certain what to do. Should she just let Kenzi leave? Especially after she had gotten so dizzy after working out for so long earlier? Or should she stop her. She didn't have much time to make a decision before Kenzi would walk out the door and be gone. Tamsin decided that she was going to make a move, even if she ended up regretting it. She ran over to the door where Kenzi was about to place her hand on the knob and open it. She quickly placed her hand on top of the hand Kenzi had on the door.

"Wait, I know that what I said made you uncomfortable and I'm sorry. It didn't come out exactly the way I was expecting it to. And i'm sorry that I said you've been making yourself throw up. I'm even sorry that I may have freaked you out by telling you that i've been following you. But i'm not sorry that I followed you. I'm not sorry that I care too much about you and that I can't just stand back and watch you do this to yourself. Kenzi, I..."

Tamsin was about to finish her sentence when Kenzi used her other hand to remove Tamsin's hand from the one she had on the door. Then Kenzi walked closer to Tamsin, still holding onto Tamsin's hand. She look up into the tall blonde's eyes, nearly swooning from how beautiful they were. She placed a hand on Tamsin's cheek, then pulled her down towards Kenzi's face and kissed the Valkyrie passionately.

Tamsin was in shock but couldn't have been happier when Kenzi made her move. She kissed Kenzi back, loving the way Kenzi made her feel.

Kenzi felt her heart start to beat a little faster from excitement as she kissed the Valkyrie. She was a bit shocked with herself to be honest, and hadn't realized she had wanted to kiss Tamsin until she had gone for it. Several passionate minutes later, Tamsin reached down and pulled Kenzi close to her, holding the small human close. Kenzi happily let herself mold into Tamsin's arms, feeling very safe and warm in her friends arms. She felt herself relax and all thoughts of food and wanting to rid her body of it left her mind.

After a few minutes Tamsin led Kenzi over to the couch and lay down on it, motioning for Kenzi to join her. Kenzi lay in Tamsin's lap, letting the Valkyrie hold her closely. They both were feeling very relaxed and soon after both fell asleep, holding each other closely.


	10. Chapter 10

Tamsin was the first one to wake up the next morning, realizing that she had slept on the couch and that Kenzi has slept next to her, all night. She was a bit shocked at how happy this made her. She had noticed how beautiful Kenzi was since she first met the human. It was something about the dark haired, tough shelled beauty that made her so attractive to Tamsin. Of course at first she had figured Kenzi was off limits, being that she was dating Hale and that she was Bo's best friend. She hadn't wanted to come between Kenzi and Hale and she had been scared of upsetting Bo, but had later realized that if you want something enough, nothing can get in your way. She looked over at the beautiful human who had her head lying in the crook of Tamsin's arms. How could Kenzi not think that she was beautiful? Was it because of something that had happened in the cave with Inari? She intended to find out and thought she could probably get Kenzi to open up to her. Especially after she had pretty much bared her own sole to Kenzi the night before. She was starting to feel very protective of the beautiful human, with what she had gone through with her sister, years ago. If Kenzi wanted her help she would give it. If Kenzi didn't want her help, well, she wasn't going to back off. She knew that Kenzi needed someone even if she tried to hide behind her tough and joking personality.

Kenzi woke a few minutes after Tamsin did, feeling very confused about her surroundings. She realized she was lying in someone's arms and didn't have any idea who it could be until she looked over and saw Tamsin.

"Morning, Kenz," Tamsin said, smiling down at the beautiful girl.

"Morning, Tamsin," Kenzi said, as memories from the night before began to come back to her. That was when she remembered that she had kissed Tamsin last night. Why had she kissed Tamsin last night? Then she realized she had wanted to kiss Tamsin. What the heck? Did she actually have feelings for her? A million thoughts seemed to be running through Kenzi's mind as she thought about the reasons for the kiss the night before.

"Are you okay? You look upset," Tamsin asked, realizing that Kenzi was probably remembering the kiss from last night.

"I kissed you last night, right?"

"You sure did. And for the record, I kissed you back. And... I enjoyed it quite a bit," Tamsin said, realizing she didn't care if Kenzi knew that she had liked it.

Kenzi's expression softened and she smiled back at Tamsin.

"Okay, okay, I enjoyed it too. I guess i'm just still a little shocked that I...kissed you. I mean, what does this mean now?"

"It can mean whatever you want it to."

"Just so we are clear, I'm straight, okay? At least I think I am..."

"It's okay, Kenzi. Maybe you just have some feelings that you didn't know you had. A lot of people don't realize that they might be bisexual until they...find that one person who they connect with," Tamsin said, hoping that she wasn't upsetting Kenzi and that she was right about what was really going on.

"You know, I think you might be right, Tamsin. I've never been attracted to women before but...there's just something about you that makes me think that I might...really like you," Kenzi said.

"I like you too, Kenzi. And I hope this means something more but I understand if this isn't what you want to do right now," Tamsin said.

"It is, Tamsin. I think it really is," Kenzi said, smiling up at Tamsin.

Kenzi leaned closer and kissed Tamsin again, realizing she couldn't resist her again. They kissed for several minutes again before Kenzi suddenly realized that she had just stayed the night at Tamsin's. Bo was going to be worried sick about her.

"Oh no, Tamsin, Bo! I didn't tell Bo where I was going last night! She must be worried sick about me since I didn't come home! Where did I leave my phone?" Kenzi said, jumping up off the couch and beginning to search for her bag. She found it and located her phone, pushing the button to make the screen light up. She was a bit shocked when she didn't have any missed calls or texts from Bo.

"Everything okay, Kenzi?"

"Yeah, I think it is...Its just that Bo didn't even call or text me last night. I don't know if she even knows if I was gone," Kenzi said, "Oh wait, I remember her mentioning that she was going to stay the night with Lauren. That must be why."

Kenzi was hoping that she was right because the alternative was that Bo didn't care that she hadn't come home. That she was glad that Kenzi hadn't. Fear that her best friend didn't want her around anymore made her want to disappear.

"Hey, Kenzi, are you sure your okay?" Tamsin said, getting up and placing a soothing hand on Kenzi's shoulder. She saw the look of doubt on Kenzi's face.

"I'm so stupid. Why would I think that Bo would be worried about me? She probably hasn't even noticed I didn't come home or she doesn't care...Why would she?" Kenzi said, unable to stop herself from thinking badly about herself.

"Kenzi, I think your wrong. I have a feeling that Bo would be very upset if she had been home last night and noticed you were gone. She mentioned to me earlier yesterday that she was staying over at Lauren's, so i'm pretty sure that's where she is. Why would you think that she doesn't want you around?"

"I...I don't know. Look, I should probably head home. I have a pretty busy day. Can I call you later?" Kenzi asked.

"Kenz, don't shut me out," Tamsin said, grabbing Kenzi's arm before she could walk away.

"Tamsin, please, just let me go..." Kenzi said, trying to pull away from Tamsin. She didn't want to tell Tamsin anything else right now.

"Not until you tell me what's wrong," Tamsin said, grabbing Kenzi around the waist and pulling her towards her, pinning the human's arms to her chest.

Kenzi looked up into Tamsin's eyes, realizing how much Tamsin cared about her.

"I can't tell you," Kenzi said, looking away from Tamsin's beautiful, caring eyes.

"Then I guess we're going to be here for awhile, huh?" Tamsin said, not giving in. She knew that Kenzi had expected her to let go but she wasn't going to. She knew how tough Kenzi tried to be, but Tamsin intended to break the wall Kenzi was putting up.

"What are you doing, Tamsin? You can't keep me from leaving," Kenzi said, squirming around to try and get Tamsin to let her go.

"I told you, i'm not letting you go until you tell me what's bothering you."

"Come on Tamsin, just let me go. I don't have time to play your little game of intervention," Kenzi said, getting very irritated with the Valkyrie. The truth was she was afraid to tell Tamsin why she was doing this to herself. She was worried about what people would think of her if they knew that she thought Bo had liked the other Kenzi better. That she didn't think Bo really wanted her around anymore. She also thought they would think she was crazy if they knew that she still heard Inari's voice in her head every time she ate something, and multiple times throughout the day, telling her that she wasn't good enough. Telling her what she should eat/not eat and when, how much she had to exercise, etc. She was afraid that if she didn't listen to Inari's voice that something bad would happen to someone close to her. Such as Bo or Tamsin. Inari had definitely had a powerful hold on Kenzi that hadn't gone away with her death. She had intentionally made Kenzi doubt that she was worthy of anyone's love.

"Well I'm not playing your little tough-girl-who-doesn't-need-anyone's-help-game," Tamsin said, not backing down.

"I don't think you understand, Tamsin, I CAN'T tell you!" Kenzi said, wanting to shout at Tamsin even though she knew that she was only trying to help her. Kenzi didn't think anyone could help her at this point, though.

"Then I guess we're gonna be here awhile. I'm not backing down, Kenz. I know there's a reason why your holding out on me, but I can't let you go. There's a reason why your doing this to yourself and that reason is keeping you from getting better."

Kenzi looked away, not wanting to see the pain and hurt that were probably in Tamsin's eyes at that moment. She wanted so badly to tell Tamsin what was going on but she couldn't, and if she looked in Tamsin's eyes, she was likely going to blurt it out. Tamsin had a strong hold on her and she wasn't sure if she liked it or not.

Half an hour passed and Tamsin continued to hold onto Kenzi despite the fact that the young human kept trying to fight to get out of Tamsin's arms. Finally Tamsin decided to break the silence.

"Kenzi, I think I have to call Bo now and tell her to come over. We aren't getting anywhere here and i'm really worried about what is causing you to do this to yourself. If you won't tell me, maybe you'll tell Bo, your best friend."

"Tamsin, no, she doesn't need to know what's going on. Please? Just let me go so we can both get on with our day. I really need to go workout. I haven't missed a day in several weeks and I can't just not go," Kenzi said, thinking of what Inari's voice would say if she let Tamsin keep her here for an entire day. She would probably tell Kenzi she was fat and lazy, and didn't deserve to feel loved.

"I think she does need to know, Kenz. You've done such a great job of hiding from her these past few weeks, and I think you owe it to her to tell her what your doing. She's your best friend, Kenzi, and I know she really cares about you. She would do anything for you," Tamsin said.

"Your wrong, Tamsin. She doesn't want me anymore. She liked the other Kenzi better. Inari was a better Kenzi that I will ever be. That's what no one understands. Inari was good at what she did. She was so good that Bo didn't even realize it wasn't me for the first few days I was missing. When she finally did, I bet she said to herself, hey, I like this Kenzi better and I think i'll just keep her around. That's why she didn't come for me right away, isn't it?"

"Kenzi, do you think that's why Bo didn't come for you right away? Sweetie, that's not true at all! As soon as she realized it wasn't you she started fighting to find you! She tried everything she could to convince Dyson, Trick, Lauren, myself that Inari wasn't the real Kenzi, but none of us would listen to her at first. It wasn't until I began to suspect something was off with the person I thought was you, that anyone actually believed Bo. She never gave up on you, Kenzi. You are her heart. I heard her say so when we were looking for you," Tamsin said, realizing that Kenzi really thought that Bo had left her to die on her own and that she preferred the other Kenzi. What had Inari done to the poor girl?

"Really? She really fought to find me? That's not what In...That's not what I was told. Tamsin, I had no idea. I knew I shouldn't have listened to the things I was told! I'm so stupid!" Kenzi said, beginning to break down.

"Was it Inari who told you that?" Tamsin asked, quietly, as she held Kenzi close to help comfort her.

"Yes," Kenzi sighed, relieved to finally tell someone, even though she was terrified of what might happen.

Kenzi suddenly felt completely exhausted and her knees went weak on her. She began to fall, but Tamsin was still holding her close and noticed. She picked up the weak human and walked over to the couch with her. She laid her down gently on a pillow and put a blanket over her before kneeling down in front of Kenzi and looked her in the face.

"Kenzi, everything is going to be okay, now. We are going to help you get better. I'm going to go get you something to eat, okay? I was so busy trying to get you to talk to me that I forgot that you haven't eaten anything today. Your body is still very weak. I'll be right back," Tamsin said, then kissed Kenzi on the head before heading to the kitchen. She quietly texted Bo as she walked to the kitchen, telling her that Kenzi was with her and asking her to come over. Kenzi had something she needed to talk to her about.


	11. Update

Just wanted to put it out there that I do take writing requests. I usually write on the subjects I've written before but if you have something in particular that you want/scenario/etc feel free to message me and ask. I'm definitely open to taking requests and going from there!


	12. Chapter 12

Tamsin returned to the living room minutes later with a small container of soy yogurt and a spoon in her hand. She knelt down in front of where Kenzi was lying on the couch and opened the yogurt, stirring it, before scooping a little bit out with a spoon and preparing to offer it to Kenzi.

"Kenzi, I need you to eat some yogurt, okay? Its non-fat, and it will give you some strength, which you really need right now," Tamsin said, then brought the spoon close to Kenzi's mouth. Kenzi turned her head, refusing to accept the yogurt.

"Are you sure this is what you want to do? If you don't eat, you do realize that Bo is going to see you in your weakened state. You've been trying incredibly hard to keep her from noticing that you weren't getting better."

Kenzi thought about that for a second, letting Tamsin's words sink in. Of course she didn't want Bo to see her like this. She had tried to avoid this type of thing for weeks now, but given how weak she was, she wasn't sure it was avoidable. She really didn't want to eat anything right now and she most certainly didn't want to tell Bo or Tamsin what had happened with Inari. She was also still feeling a little angry with Tamsin both for not letting her leave earlier and for saying she was going to tell Bo what Kenzi was doing and about Inari. If she hadn't mentioned anything earlier about Bo, Tamsin probably wouldn't have tried to stop Kenzi from leaving and she could have continued to keep Bo in the dark awhile longer. Now she didn't know what she was suppose to do. Eat, and pretend like she was okay with it and risk the possibility that she might not be able to handle keeping the food down or not eat, which would pretty much give her away instantly. She quickly realized that she was going to have to decide a lot quicker than she had wanted to as there was a knock on the door. Probably Bo.

Tamsin looked over at Kenzi, sensing the fear in the young girls' eyes, then set the yogurt down on the coffee table before heading for the front door. She opened the door and welcomed Bo in.

"Hey, Bo."

"Hey, Tamsin."

Bo stepped inside Tamsin's apartment and noticed Kenzi lying on the couch, looking pale and frail. She rushed to her best friends side, not able to hide her worry.

"Kenzi, are you okay? Did something happen? You don't look well," Bo said, realizing right away that something wasn't right. She had a feeling that Kenzi was keeping something from her.

"Hey, Bo. I'm okay. I was visiting Tamsin and I started not feeling so great. I think I might have overdone it at the gym or something. Tamsin was just telling me that I should probably eat some yogurt, and that it might help me feel better," Kenzi said, pointing to the yogurt. She was hoping that Tamsin would get the hint and either hand Kenzi the yogurt of start feeding it to her. She intended to eat it now that Bo was here. She had quickly decided to play the denial card, hoping she could convince Bo that she was fine.

Tamsin decided not to say anything yet. She picked up the yogurt and resumed her spot in front of Kenzi, hoping that her small friend was actually planning to eat the yogurt this time. She brought the spoon to Kenzi's mouth again and after a small amount of hesitation, Kenzi let her feed the yogurt to her.

It took every ounce of strength Kenzi had left to swallow each and every bite of the yogurt. She was determined to do it, even if she didn't want to. She even stayed on the couch for about 10 minutes, letting herself draw some strength from the food she had eaten, even if she wasn't willing to admit that it was making her stronger. When 15 minutes had passed she knew she wasn't going to be able to sit there any longer. She had to come up with an excuse and she had to make it believable. She slowly sat up on the couch, hoping that Bo and Tamsin weren't paying attention to her.

Unfortunately they both looked over at Kenzi.

Bo was worried that Kenzi was sitting up so soon. Her BFF had looked like she was going to pass not even a half hour earlier, and she wasn't sure how she was sitting up so soon. She had a bad feeling about Kenzi, a feeling that told her that Kenzi hadn't really gotten better the past few weeks. A feeling that told her that somehow she hadn't managed to help Kenzi by making her meals and insisting that she eat them. She also wondered how Kenzi looked so thin again if she had watched her eat nearly every day the first week and had watched Kenzi eat whenever she was at home with Bo.

Tamsin was wondering just how long it was going to be before Kenzi either made some excuse to get away and made herself throw up or just ran for the bathroom to throw up, without even caring if anyone saw her. She knew that's why Kenzi had sat up. She also wondered if Bo knew that Kenzi had been making herself throw up nearly every time she ate something.

Kenzi decided that she was going to have to do this slowly. She couldn't just say that she was going to the bathroom. That would make Tamsin suspicious right away and she would likely stop her.

"I'm just gonna check my phone, to see if anyone has messaged me," Kenzi said, slowly getting off the couch. She had to struggle to keep herself upright as her body didn't want her to move just yet but she used every ounce of strength she had left to keep upright and walk over to her bag. She managed to make it to the wall opposite the couch and reach down for her phone. She looked at the screen, pretending to check her messages.

Tamsin knew Kenzi was up to something and was just waiting for her to attempt to run off to the bathroom.

Kenzi put her phone in her pocket, not entirely certain what to do next. Finally, she had an idea.

"I think I left my phone charger in the other room. I'm just gonna go grab it."

Tamsin realized immediately what Kenzi was doing. Making an excuse so she could go throw up. She wasn't having anymore of this behavior from Kenzi. She knew she had to step in and she knew it meant Bo was going to find out that Kenzi hadn't gotten better; She had gotten worse. She was in front of Kenzi in seconds, blocking the young girls way out of the living room.

"Kenzi, wait, you have to stop," Tamsin said, really not liking that Bo had to find out this way.

"What are you talking about, Tamsin?" Kenzi asked, realizing that Tamsin was about to reveal her secret to Bo.

"You have to stop making yourself throw up," Tamsin blurted.

Bo gasped.

"What? How do you know she's...doing that? Has she been eating?" Bo asked, realizing after a second that Kenzi hadn't gotten better because she hadn't been keeping food down and had likely been starving herself anytime she wasn't having to eat in front of someone.

"I caught her making herself throw up...Its a bit of a long story, but trust me, Bo. She's not better. And when she isn't making herself sick and trying to pretend to keep food down, she's not eating at all and exercising hours at a time," Tamsin said, hating herself for telling Kenzi's secret.

"You have no proof that i'm making myself throw up, or that i'm still starving myself, Tamsin," Kenzi said, not entirely certain what to do next so deciding that denial was the best way to get out of this.

"If your not making yourself throw up then go sit back down for the next 45 minutes," Tamsin said. She wanted to grab Kenzi in her arms and rock her until the feeling passed but she couldn't do that with Bo here now, and she had a feeling Kenzi wouldn't let her since Bo was here.

Kenzi began to panic. If she didn't hurry up and make herself vomit, it would be too late. There's no way she could stay in the living room for the next 45 minutes. She could feel the food swelling up inside of her, making her want to get rid of it even more. For a few seconds she longed to be back in Tamsin's arms, safe, where she wouldn't feel so anxious about the food being in her stomach. Then she realized that Bo didn't know about her and Tamsin. She didn't want this to be the way that Bo found out.

"Tamsin, please, don't make me stay in here. I wasn't going to make myself throw up. I just need my phone cord," Kenzi pleaded, panic evident in her eyes.

"I'm sorry, Kenzi, but I don't believe you," Tamsin said, hating herself for having to do this to Kenzi.

"You can't do this to me, please, just let me through, okay?"

Bo watched the interaction between Kenzi and Tamsin, realizing that Kenzi really was desperate to go make herself throw up. She felt helpless watching her best friend struggle.

"Kenzi, why don't you just go sit down for a little bit, okay? You can get the phone cord in a bit. But right now, I think you need to sit down, try to calm yourself down," Bo said, trying to help. She had walked over to stand next to Tamsin, in front of Kenzi.

"I can't, Bo, I can't! Please don't stop me from doing this! I have to get rid...I have to go get my phone cord now, because my phone is going to die."

Kenzi quickly began to realize that neither of her friends were going to let her through. She began to feel anger rise up in her chest. She did not like people telling her what she had to do.

"You can't stop me from doing this! I'm old enough to make my own decisions!" Kenzi said, through gritted teeth.

She began to walk towards the two women, hoping they would move aside and let her through. Neither Tamsin nor Bo was having any of it, though. It was Tamsin who grabbed Kenzi's arms, preventing her from moving forward.

"Tamsin, please, don't do this again! You have to let me go!" Kenzi pleaded one last time, hoping she could appeal to her friend.

"I can't do that, Kenzi, you need help," Tamsin said, nearly in tears herself as she wanted so badly to let Kenzi go, to make sure Kenzi wasn't angry at her, but she couldn't.

Kenzi began to thrash around in Tamsin's arms, an angry look on her face and she tried to get away from the Valkyrie.

"You can't do this to me, Tamsin! Your going to make me so fat! Please!" Kenzi pleaded.

"Kenzi, its going to be okay. We can't let you make yourself throw up again. You have to keep the food in your body right now. Your losing too much weight again," Bo said, hoping she could get through to her friend. She had grabbed onto one of Kenzi's arms, to help keep her from escaping.

Kenzi began to fight harder, realizing that she had less of an opportunity of getting away with both of them holding onto her. She was beginning to lose what little strength she had left, the longer she fought. She was still very angry with both of them.

"How would you know what I need, Bo? You've barely been around lately. It was easy to get by without eating again! And all those meals you made me because you cared? I threw them all up after I ate them in front of you! You don't care about me, you just want to see me get fat!" Instantly regretting what she had just said. She had only said it because she thought it would get Bo to let go of her.

Bo wanted to let go of Kenzi and let her leave as the harsh words came out of her best friends mouth, but she didn't. She knew Kenzi was sick and needed help.

Kenzi was growing more and more tired from fighting both Tamsin and Bo and wanted them to just let her go but she realized they weren't going to. Giving one last tug at both of her arms, Kenzi finally gave up and let herself sink to the floor as she began to weep. Tamsin and Bo went down with her and Bo pulled Kenzi's head into her lap, putting her arms around her friend and holding her. Tamsin sat next to Bo, a hand gently stroking Kenzi's arm as she looked down at the girl that she cared so much for.

"I can't do this anymore, I just can't. I want to die. I can't beat this and i'm too tired to keep trying," Kenzi said, feeling hopeless.

"Kenzi, you can't give up, you just can't. Your my best friend and I love you, and I can't stand to see you like this. I won't let you give up, I will fight for you," Bo said, tears starting to roll down her face.

Tamsin was overwhelmed by the emotions coming from both Kenzi and Bo and decided that she didn't care if Bo knew how she felt about Kenzi. It was time to tell Kenzi, even with Bo in the room.

"Oh Kenzi, Bo is right, sweetie. You can't just give up. I know this is hard for you. I know its taking so much out of you, but you can't give up right now. Kenzi, I think...I think i'm in love with you. I can't just let you sit here and kill yourself and I won't," Tamsin said.

Kenzi couldn't believe what she was hearing from her best friend and her friend, the Valkyrie. Bo was going to fight for her? She wasn't going to let her give up? That went against everything that Inari had told her. Inari had convinced her that Bo cared nothing for Kenzi and that she was ready for Inari to take Kenzi's place. That Kenzi wasn't good enough and wouldn't be unless she was weightless. Was it really possible that Inari had been wrong? And Tamsin, had she just told Kenzi that she was in love with her? She was shocked because she didn't think that anyone could love her the way she was right now. She realized that she was in love with Tamsin as well. Should she tell Tamsin this or should she deny how she felt since she wasn't perfect yet?


	13. Chapter 13

Kenzi knew that she had reached her low. She knew because she had just confessed to both Bo and Tamsin that she was ready to give up. That she didn't want to fight anymore. It was just too hard to keep fighting. Inari's voice was too powerful and Kenzi was too weak to fight her. Then both Bo and Tamsin had encouraged her to fight, to not give up and the words they had said had touched her in a way she hadn't expected them to. For just a few minutes, she actually felt like she could get through this, with their help. But first she needed to tell them both some very important things and she intended to do so, while she wasn't feeling like fighting them to get away again. While she didn't feel like the only way out of this, at the moment, was to get away from them so she could go make herself purge the food she had forced herself to eat.

Kenzi lifted her head from Bo's lap, slowly. She felt like she'd been run over by a truck, yet she felt a huge weight lifted from her chest as well.

"Bo, your my best friend too, and I love you too! I hate that you have to see my like this. I feel like its all too much for me to fight. That Inari's voice is too strong now and I can't fight her any longer. But when you and Tamsin told me how you both felt, well, it made me realize how much you both mean to me. If I don't fight, then I'll never get to be here anymore. And Tamsin...I feel the same. I think i'm falling in love with you too! You make me feel things i've never felt before, especially when you tell me that you won't let me give up. And Bo, when you said you'll fight for me. That makes me feel so loved and I realize that I don't want to lose either of you," Kenzi said. She hoped that they understood how she was feeling, as sometimes things are just too difficult to put into words easily.

Neither Bo or Tamsin said a word, they just both leaned in towards Kenzi and hugged her tightly, glad to see the fight in the small human.

After the hugging session was over, the two women helped Kenzi back onto the couch so she would be more comfortable. Tamsin pulled Kenzi close and wrapped her arms around the small girls waist, letting her rest the back of her head on Tamsin's chest. Bo snuggled in next to Kenzi's other side, her hand taking hold of one of Kenzi's small hands.

Bo couldn't believe how cold Kenzi's hand was. It was like holding ice. Kenzi's nails were turning purple and she could now tell how sunken and hollow Kenzi's face was, seeing as how it didn't look like she had put any makeup on yet today, what with everything going on.

"So, I think you both have some explaining to do. How did the two of you end up in a relationship?" Bo asked sternly, but smiling as she did so. She had to admit she was surprised when Tamsin confessed her love for Kenzi but she wasn't upset. She wanted her best friend and her Valkyrie friend to both be happy above anything else and if this was what they both wanted, she was happy for them.

Tamsin looked up at Bo when she heard her friend start talking, fearing that she was really upset about the relationship between her and Kenzi, then realizing that Bo was smiling.

Kenzi also looked over at Bo, not sure what her best friend was thinking, but wanted to sigh in relief when she saw the smile on Bo's face.

Kenzi craned her head upwards so she could reach Tamsin's eyes before saying, "Darling, should I tell her or do you want to?"

"You can tell her, sweetheart. I like to hear your voice, anyway," Tamsin said, smiling down at the girl in her arms, feeling completely in love with her.

"When Tamsin came to visit me, back when I first collapsed, I noticed that there was something about her that made me feel instantly calmer. Then last night when she got me back here, after I collapsed, she made me drink some juice and I started panicking. I was going to run off and make myself throw up but when she held me in her arms to keep me from doing so, I felt something again. I began to realize that she was looking at me with a look of love in her eyes, like she really wanted to kiss me. I surprised myself by kissing her first. From that moment on is was like something inside of me opened up and I began to realize I was in love with her. Apparently the feeling was mutual," Kenzi said.

"That's incredibly sweet, Kenzi. I am incredibly happy for both of you and I want you to know, I approve of your relationship, not that it matters what I think or anything. I think you picked a good one, Kenzi," Bo said, smiling at her best friend.

"Bo, I haven't been honest with you lately," Kenzi said, realizing it was time to open up to her friend.

"I have been making myself throw up, like I said earlier, but its not because I wanted to. You made me feel incredibly special when you kept making food for me, even though I was trying everything I could think of to get out of actually eating it. The food you made me, that was the only food I ever actually ate. If I wasn't going to be home for lunch or something I wouldn't eat at all. I was going to the gym during the day, every day, not taking classes. I worked out 6-7 hours every day. That's how I lost so much weight again. And I wore a ton of makeup and several layers of clothing at all times, to make it harder for you to notice I was losing weight. I never intended to get better. My only intention was to keep going until I lost enough weight to make me happy. I just...I thought that you didn't want me around, that you didn't love me anymore. I thought that you were still wishing that Inari was alive because she made a much better Kenzi that I ever did," Kenzi said, starting to break down in tears.

"Oh, Kenzi, I can't believe you were doing all that just so I would notice you. Sweetie, I never loved the other Kenzi more. In fact, I hated Inari with a passion. She was evil and she tried to take you away from me. No one could ever replace you. You are my true Kenzi. I don't want to ask you this, sweetie, but I need to know, and I think it will be good for you to tell us. What did Inari do to you in that cave?" Bo asked.

Kenzi wanted to shut down. She wanted to tell Bo and Tamsin that nothing had happened. That Inari had simply kept her prisoner there and that she had rarely ever interacted with her. But she knew they would know she was lying and she knew that a part of her needed to tell somebody what had happened.

"Inari...Inari told me that you liked her better than me, Bo. She told me that I wasn't good enough for you. That I wasn't pretty enough or thin enough. She gave me some food on the second day I was there. It wasn't much. I asked her three days later when she finally came back to the cave if I could have some more food. She told me she had fed me 3 days ago and that...she didn't understand why I needed to eat so often. Then she started calling me a fat pig and oinking at me. She continued to taunt me for hours that day. I tried to tune her out but it was hard to do. I was so weak from exhaustion and lack of food. After that she brought me food a few days later. This time she had brought me a huge platter of food, all sorts of stuff. My first thought was how hungry I was. How I wanted to dive in and stuff it all in my mouth. But then something inside of me reminded me of how fat Inari had said I was. So instead I found the smallest piece of food I could find and ate a tiny bit of it. Inari taunted me even for the small piece of food I ate. She took the platter away later and I almost felt relieved that I didn't have to look at the horrible food that would have made me gain weight. After that day, she would come back daily, bringing me food sometimes and shout at me for hours about how fat and ugly I was. I got to a point where I couldn't even eat anymore because I started to feel like I was actually fat and ugly. By the time I was rescued, Inari had planted all those things into my head and I actually still heard her voice, even after I left the cave. Even after I found out she was dead. When I first got back, I tried to push it all out of my head because I didn't want anyone to notice what I was doing and I thought maybe I could eat and not worry about having to hear her voice again. But after a few weeks I started hearing it again and then I realized that I got a sort of high from not eating and that I actually felt like I was becoming more beautiful when I didn't eat. I took up jogging and that also helped to make me feel lighter and stronger, without eating," Kenzi said.

"I can't believe she treated you like that, Kenzi. She was even more horrible than I thought she was," Bo said.

"I'm wishing she was still alive so I could kill her all over again. I would make her suffer like she had never suffered before," Tamsin said, an angry look on her face.

Kenzi couldn't help but smile at how protective Tamsin was of her.

"Kenzi, you do know that I would love you no matter what you looked like, right? And that right now, you look very sick indeed. You have lost way too much weight and I'm so worried about you," Bo said.

Kenzi hung her head, wanting to believe that Bo really did love her no matter how she looked but not being able to stop the voice in the back of her mind that told her she still wasn't perfect. She knew she would have to fight that voice or she would never get better.

"Yeah, I know, Bo. I just wish that it were easier to stop myself from feeling like i'm not good enough, not pretty enough," Kenzi said.

"It's going to take time, Kenzi, but I think you can get there," Bo said.

"Bo's right, Kenzi. It will take time but I know you can do it," Tamsin said.

"What happens now?" Kenzi asked.

"I think that all depends on you, sweetie. Are you ready to fight this thing? Because I'm ready to help you fight it," Tamsin said.

"Same here, Kenzi, I'm ready to help you fight this thing," Bo said.

"Yeah, I'm ready to," Kenzi said, smiling at both her friends.

Kenzi let herself be held for the next hour before Tamsin decided that Kenzi needed to eat something again. She was going to make Kenzi a strawberry banana smoothie.

"Can I come sit in the kitchen while you make it, Tamsin? I feel like I need to get up and walk for a bit but i'm not sure how far I can actually go," Kenzi said.

"Sure," Tamsin said. Tamsin helped Kenzi off the couch then both she and Bo took one of Kenzi's arms and helped her walk to the kitchen. Kenzi was annoyed that she was feeling so incredibly weak and that it felt like each step was taking her forever. She felt a bit strange too, like her heart was racing even though she was barely taking any steps at all. Halfway to the kitchen she asked Bo and Tamsin to stop for a minute because she was feeling out of breath. Kenzi stopped moving and felt a rushing feeling in her head. She started to feel incredibly lightheaded and then felt a pain in her chest that took her breath away. She tried to breathe through the pain but she found herself struggling to breathe.

"Kenzi, are you okay?" Kenzi heard Tamsin said, though she sounded very far away.

"Bo, I think she's about to pass out or something. Maybe we should have her sit down for a minute," Tamsin said to Bo. But before Bo could answer, Tamsin felt Kenzi start to fall and watched her girlfriends eyes roll back in her head as she collapsed in Tamsin's arms. Tamsin caught her before she fell very far and lifted her into her arms. She looked down at Kenzi's face, noticing that Kenzi was turning blue.

"Bo, I don't think she's breathing! Call an ambulance!" Tamsin heard herself shouting.


	14. Chapter 14

Tamsin held Kenzi in her arms for a few seconds after she shouted for Bo to call an ambulance before she finally realized she had to do something to help Kenzi, even if she was feeling very scared at the moment. She lay Kenzi flat on the ground and began to perform CPR on the tiny human's body. She lost track of time as she continued to rotate between blowing puffs of air in Kenzi's lungs and pumping her girlfriends chest. Finally, she felt two strong hands on her arms and at first she tried to fight them, thinking they were trying to stop her from saving Kenzi, before she realized it was two cops. She allowed them to take her over to the couch and sat watching from there as several paramedics surrounded Kenzi and began working on her. Tamsin realized that Bo was sitting next to her, staring off into space, looking very scared. Tamsin placed an arm on Bo's shoulder, wanting to break down completely but knowing she had to keep her composure; at least for now.

Bo had watched as Kenzi clutched her chest after. She was confused at first as to why Kenzi was clutching her chest, then realized that Kenzi must be in pain. She heard Tamsin say something about Kenzi looking like she was about to pass out and was about to do something when she saw Kenzi's eyes roll back in her head and watched her start to fall. She felt frozen as Tamsin grabbed her small friend and scooped her up into her arms. Then Tamsin shouted that Kenzi was turning blue and Bo sprung into action, darting over to the end table where her phone was. She somehow managed to keep her hands steady as she punched in 9-1-1. After telling the person on the phone where to go, she instinctively called Lauren and barely managed to get out the words to her girlfriend, telling her that Kenzi had collapsed and to meet her at the hospital. Then she had heard a knock on the door and had rushed to it, finding two police officers and two paramedics standing outside. She had opened the door for them, then numbly walked back to the couch, where she sat until Tamsin came over and sat next to her.

"Bo? Can you hear me?" Bo heard someone say. She looked over towards the voice, realizing it was Tamsin, who was sitting next to her.

"Bo, are you okay?" Tamsin asked, knowing that Bo obviously wasn't, but not being able to think of anything else to say at the moment.

"Is she going to be okay, Tamsin? Tell me she's going to be ok!" Bo found herself saying, panic evident in her voice.

"Come here," Tamsin said, holding Bo closely. She didn't know the answer to Bo's question so she did the next thing she could think of and embraced Bo tightly in a hug.

A few minutes later one of the paramedics shouted that Kenzi was breathing again. They had a breathing mask over her face now and an IV going in her arm, along with heart monitors all over her chest. Someone asked Tamsin if she and Bo wanted to ride in the ambulance with Kenzi. She nodded yes and helped Bo get to the door.

In the ambulance Bo and Tamsin sat on one side of Kenzi so that a paramedic could continue looking Kenzi over on the ride to the hospital. Kenzi's eyes were still closed but her face wasn't blue anymore and Tamsin could hear the heart monitor beeping, so she knew Kenzi was alive...for now.

At the hospital, Bo and Tamsin hopped out of the ambulance and stood aside while the paramedics wheeled the stretcher with Kenzi on it, into the hospital. Bo happened to look over at the ER entrance and saw Lauren standing there. When Lauren saw her, she rushed to Bo, holding her girlfriend in her arms as she let go and began bawling.

Tamsin felt awkward standing next to the succubus as she cried in Lauren's arms. She also felt scared out of her mind and wanting nothing more than to be in the building holding Kenzi in her arms. She decided that she couldn't stand outside any longer and made her way inside. Bo watched Tamsin walk towards the door, realizing that she was worried sick about her girlfriend. She said something to Lauren and the two walked quickly after Tamsin, into the hospital.

Inside they had taken Kenzi back to a room where several people were checking her over. Tamsin walked straight to the desk inside the ER asking where they had taken Kenzi and if she could go in to see her. She was surprised when someone told her exactly where to go. She looked behind her to see Lauren and Bo coming in the hospital and waited for them, before continuing to walk to the room Kenzi was in. Once inside the room, Tamsin went straight to the left side of Kenzi, where no one was currently standing. She hesitated only a moment before gently taking her girlfriends tiny hand in her own. Kenzi still hadn't opened her eyes.

About 30 minutes later, a Dr came in to talk to the three women.

"Are any of you related to this young woman?"

"No, but she's my roommate and this is her girlfriend, and my girlfriend, Dr. Lewis," Bo said.

"Very well. Would it be okay if I asked you a few questions about Kenzi?"

"Yes," Bo said.

"Does your friend have an eating disorder?" The Dr asked.

"Yes. She's Anorexic," Bo said.

"I had a feeling she did. She appears seriously underweight not to mention that her Iron is dangerously low, along with her electrolytes, and she's severely dehydrated. She definitely shows all the signs of Anorexia, as i'm sure you already know. Can you tell me what happened before she came in?"

"She was trying to walk to the kitchen and Tamsin and I were holding on to each of her arms as she was very weak, from all the exercise she's been doing along with not eating. She was going very slow and acting like something wasn't right. She asked us to stop after just a short ways and then clutched her chest like she was in pain. I could hear her gasping for breathe and then she passed out. She started turning blue and that's when I called an ambulance and Tamsin started forming CPR," Bo said.

"Thank you. Well, it appears that your friend may have suffered a heart attack from the strain on her heart. Her heart gave out and she probably wouldn't be here right now if you hadn't performed CPR on her," the Dr said, pointing to Tamsin. "At this point, its a waiting game to see when/if she wakes up. She is stable, for now, and we will make sure she gets IV fluids and will likely start her on a feeding tube, soon. I want to do some tests to confirm it was a heart attack and see if she has caused any damage to her body. Would you three be willing to sit down with a nurse in a bit to give us a history of her eating disorder up to this point?"

"Yes, yes, of course," Bo said.

The Dr. left the room soon after and Tamsin moved away from Kenzi's bedside. She was starting to feel incredible panic and fear. Bo could see the pain in the Valkyrie's eyes.

"Tamsin?" Bo asked, wishing there was something she could do to help the Valkyrie.

"I-I'm fine. I just...Need to step away for a minute," Tamsin said, before breaking into tears. She put her head in her hands and found herself up against the wall. She slid down to the floor, letting the tears out.

Bo came over and sat down next to her friend, wrapping her arms around Tamsin's shoulders. Tamsin cried, loudly for a few minutes before lifting her head and looking at Bo.

"I just feel so helpless, Bo. There's nothing I can do for her, but I would do ANYTHING to help her. I don't want to lose her. I can't lose her! I didn't even know I loved her until a few weeks ago. I don't know what to do, Bo!" Tamsin said, breaking down completely.

Bo watched the strong Valkyrie fall apart, wanting so bad to do something to make Kenzi better. She knew what the type of love Tamsin was feeling was like. The kind where you would do anything for the other person. She had felt that way many times with Lauren, especially when Lauren had almost been taken from her forever. And she too didn't want to lose Kenzi, her best friend. What would happen if Kenzi died? Would Tamsin be able to go on? Would she?

Tamsin let Bo comfort her as she felt like her entire world was about to fall apart. She couldn't lose Kenzi. Not now. Not when she had just found her.

Several hours passed and Kenzi continued to be unconscious. A nurse came in to talk to the three about Kenzi's eating disorder progression and all three were more than willing to tell her about how they had watched Kenzi's eating disorder progress over the past few months. There was an unsettling quiet in the room after the nurse left. The only noise the beep of the monitor that displayed Kenzi's heartbeat and the slow drip of the IV.

Suddenly the beeping on the heart monitor turned to a single low tone. And a line appeared across the screen.

"Help! Someone help!" Tamsin yelled, realizing that they were losing Kenzi.

Several people rushed into the room and in the chaos, Tamsin found herself being taken by the arm and gently led out of the room. She began to fight whoever it was as hard as she could. She wouldn't leave Kenzi's room, she couldn't leave her all alone. Then her thoughts turned to whether or not Kenzi was going to live. Did the tone mean she was gone? Tamsin finally stopped fighting when the person had brought her to the waiting room. Bo was instantly by Tamsin's side, bawling. She grabbed onto Tamsin and Lauren joined in and tried to comfort both women while also being upset herself. They were a mess of arms and tears. They three continued to huddle together, crying for several more minutes before finally regaining composure enough to stare at the door, hoping that a Dr was going to come in any minute now and tell them whether or not Kenzi was alive.

Finally someone came back to talk to them.

"Ladies, we were able to resuscitate your friend, though she coded a second time We were able to get her back again and she's stable, for now. Her heart is under a lot of stress from the strain the eating disorder has put on it. The next 24 hours are going to be critical for her. If she makes it through them, she should be okay. We are going to move her up to the intensive care unit so they can keep a closer eye on her. You are more than welcome to head up there now, as we are prepping her for the transfer upstairs. Good luck, ladies. I hope that she pulls through. I can tell how much she means to all of you," the Dr. said.

Bo, Tamsin, and Lauren clung to each other as they walked to the elevator. What was going to happen now? Would Kenzi make it through the next 24 hours or would she succumb to the damages caused by her eating disorder?


	15. Roleplay forum for Kenzi's breakdown

Hello everyone! I was trying to think of a way for the readers to be able to interact with myself and other readers about this story. I noticed that there are forums on here so I decided to start a roleplay forum specifically for this story. Feel free to join in if you'd like. I have started it out with myself as Kenzi's character and would love it if any of you would be willing to help continue the roleplay. We can also do something where someone else does Kenzi's character or such. Just jump on in and let's see how this goes:) I've never done this before so i'm not sure how it goes so I just kind of made it up as I go:) I may not respond right away if I get busy but i'll try to check back often. Thanks all! 

It appears that the link to my forum isn't working but I have another way for you to get to it. If you type in "Lost Girl" in the search box and make sure that you to the left of the search box that you scroll down so your searching in "Forum". You will see my Forum in the list that comes up and the Admin will be listed as EmmalinaD. Hope this helps everyone find it and if you still can't find it feel free to message me. I would love to have some people roleplay the characters! :)


	16. Chapter 16

_I apologize for the delay in getting this chapter out. It's rather short but I wanted to get something out to answer the big question of whether or not Kenzi lives. Enjoy!_

Tamsin felt numb as she rode the elevator upstairs with Bo and Lauren. She didn't want to let herself feel again because she knew that if she did she would break down, and she wasn't sure what she might do if that happened.

The three found the waiting room next to the intensive care unit and sat down, waiting for someone to let them know Kenzi had arrived upstairs. Finally someone came in.

"Hello, ladies. Kenzi is still stable, currently, though she still hasn't woken yet. If you'd like, you can go in one at a time to visit with her. Unfortunately, we can't let anyone stay for too long while she's still in the condition she's in," The Dr said.

"Tamsin, you should go first," Bo said, wanting to let her go, knowing that she was dying to see her girlfriend.

"Thanks, Bo," Tamsin said, smiling gratefully at the Succubus.

Tamsin let herself be led to Kenzi's room. When she walked in she almost gasped at the sight of her girlfriend. Kenzi lay in the hospital bed, hooked up to all sorts of monitors and had an IV in one hand and a breathing mask over her face. She was even paler than she had been back at Tamsin's place and her lips had a purple hue to them. She looked so tiny laying in the hospital bed. Tamsin sat down next to Kenzi and took her girlfriends hand.

"Kenzi, if you can hear me, I want you to know that I'm here. I love you so much," Tamsin said, nearly choking on her words and tears formed in her eyes, "I want you to fight this thing that has taken over your body. You can do this, Kenzi, I believe in you. And when you wake up I will help you get better and I promise I won't leave. Just wake up for me, please. For Bo, too. We love you and we don't want to lose you." Tamsin wished more than anything that that Kenzi would wake up right then, but wasn't surprised when Kenzi didn't respond or open her eyes.

Tamsin sat with Kenzi for a few more minutes before getting up and planting a gently kiss on Kenzi's frail cheek. She wanted to stay with Kenzi until they threw her out of the room but she didn't want to take any time away from Bo, as she knew her friend needed to see Kenzi as well.

Bo came in and sat down in the chair next to Kenzi. She too couldn't believe how frail Kenzi looked. She was incredibly worried about Kenzi and wasn't sure if it was possible for her small friend to recover from the damage that had been done to her body. She wasn't sure she could deal with losing Kenzi, though, and found that she didn't want to think about it too much as it terrified her.

Bo joined Tamsin and Lauren back in the waiting room a little while later.

"How is she, Bo?" Lauren asked.

"She's...she's just there. Its almost like its not even Kenzi at all, Lauren. I'm so scared of losing her! I can't lose my best friend!" Bo said, breaking down in tears. Lauren took Bo's hand and pulled her in for a hug, letting the succubus cry on her shoulder.

Tamsin had been sitting down attempting to read a magazine when Bo had come in. She saw Bo start to breakdown and it nearly made her break down again as well. She began to pace back and forth trying to figure out if there was anything she could do to help Kenzi. Just when Tamsin felt she couldn't take anymore, a nurse walked into the waiting room.

"Excuse me, are you here for Kenzi?" She asked, walking over to where Bo and Lauren were standing.

Tamsin hurried over to hear what the nurse had to say.

"Yes, we are," Bo said, "Is everything alright?" Worry lined Bo's face as she waited to hear what the nurse was going to say.

"Yes, yes she is. She just woke up. And she's asking for Bo and Tamsin," The nurse said.

"That's our girl," Tamsin said, smiling over at Bo.


	17. Chapter 17

Kenzi opened her eyes and found herself looking at a white ceiling. She moved her head slightly to the left and saw a pole with several IV bags hanging from it. Looking to her right she saw a large machine with a monitor on it that was beeping steadily. She noticed that she had a breathing mask over her mouth and nose and reached her hand up to remove it and that's when she noticed an IV in her hand. She had no idea where she was or how she had gotten there and she was starting to feel a little scared. She didn't see Tamsin or Bo anywhere and no one else was in the room so she moved her hand around, attempting to find a call button. After several attempts she located it and brought her other hand over to push the big red call button on it, finding that her arms moved slower than she wished they would. A nurse came in faster than she had expected anyone too and seemed surprised about something.

"How are you feeling, Hon? Do you know where you are?"

"How am I feeling? Well, for one, I feel like someone just ran over me with a truck, two, there is something sharp sticking in my hand and I would like to know why its there. I'm assuming i'm in a hospital? I would also like to know where Tamsin and Bo are. I'm not dead, am I?" Kenzi asked.

"I should probably let the Dr tell you why your here then, but I can go get Tamsin and Bo, your friends, I'm assuming, for you. And no, dear, you are not dead. Were you expecting to be?"

"No, I was just checking. I feel like everything is moving a little slowly," Kenzi answered.

"That's to be expected after what you just went through. I will go get the Dr and grab your friends for you."

Kenzi was starting to get a little worried about why she was in the hospital. Had she passed out? And if so how long had she been out? She was trying to figure out what was going on when she saw Tamsin's face appear in her doorway, followed by Bo and Lauren.

Tamsin couldn't get to Kenzi's side fast enough after the Dr had told them she was awake. She had wanted to run down the hall as fast as her legs would allow her but had contained herself, realizing that they might have called security on the tall blonde if she went running through the halls. So she followed the Dr to Kenzi's room, walking at a reasonable pace until she walked through the doors of Kenzi's room. Then she was next to Kenzi in seconds, looking into the small human's eyes and holding Kenzi's hand in hers.

"Kenzi, I'm so glad you woke up! I was so worried about you," Tamsin said, nearly bursting out in tears but finding herself not wanting to display all of her emotions right there.

For once Kenzi was at a lost for words so instead she squeezed Tamsin's hand, letting her know she was happy to see her as a few tears started to roll down her face. Then Tamsin realized it wasn't enough, she had to be closer to Kenzi, wires and IV's or not, and leaned down to gently hug Kenzi's tiny body. Kenzi wanted more than anything to be able to sit up and hug Tamsin or better yet, let Tamsin hold her in her arms, but she couldn't because she was lying in a hospital bed, feeling pretty weak and hooked up to too many wires.

Tamsin let Kenzi go after a few minutes and let Bo have a turn with Kenzi.

"Kenzi, I thought we were going to lose you. I don't know what I would have done without my best friend...," Bo said, starting to choke up.

"There's no way I could have left you Bo-Bo," Kenzi said, letting Bo hug her.

The Dr came closer to Kenzi after letting Tamsin and Bo talk to Kenzi for a few minutes.

"Kenzi, do you know why your in the hospital?"

"No."

"You collapsed and suffered a heart attack. You were technically dead several times but we were able to bring you back each time. You remained unconscious until just a little bit ago and we actually weren't sure if you were going to pull through. You are currently in Intensive Care, but the fact that you are able to talk to us and move your limbs at least enough to push the call button tells us that you are improving. The heart attack was due to the strain your eating disorder has put on your heart. You should be able to make a full recovery, but only if you start eating again. We would like to help you resume eating and gain some strength here at our hospital, if you will agree to it," the Dr. said.

"I had a heart attack?" Kenzi said, trying to let what the Dr had just told her sink in. That would probably explain why she felt like she'd been run over by a truck. Her heart had been unable to handle her starving herself. Kenzi knew that she wanted to get better now and she had even been ready to do so right before she had collapsed. But even though she wanted to get better, the idea of having to remain in the hospital was scaring her.

"H-how long do I have to stay here? And what does the treatment look like? What's the first step?" Kenzi asked.

"We have an eating disorder unit right here in the hospital that is excellent and your probably looking at anywhere from 6-8 months of treatment, depending on your progress. The first step would be for us to put in a feeding tube. Right now you are very weak and your body can't handle solid foods just yet so we would use the feeding tube to help you get stronger while your body rests. That along with more IV fluids to rehydrate you and balance out your electrolytes. We could move you to the regular hospital floor in a few hours assuming you stay conscious and then you'd be there for several weeks before we would move you up to the eating disorder until," The Dr explained.

Kenzi didn't like what she was hearing but she knew that if she wanted to get better that she would have to allow herself to get help so she agreed to let them start the treatment. They intended to put the feeding tube in immediately.

"Tamsin, will you stay with me when they put the tube in? I'm really scared," Kenzi said, looking up at Tamsin, the fear evident in her eyes.

"Of course I will, Kenzi," Tamsin said, smiling at her girlfriend, hating to see the fear in her eyes.

"Bo, can you stay too? I need my best friend here as well," Kenzi said to Bo.

"You bet, Kenz," Bo said.

Kenzi hesitated for a second not wanting to leave Lauren out. She liked the fact that Lauren took such good care of Bo and was finding that she didn't dislike the Dr so much, anymore.

"You can stay too, Lauren," Kenzi said.

Lauren smiled at Kenzi, appreciating the fact that the young human wanted her there, even after all that Lauren had put her through when she had first discovered Kenzi's eating disorder.


	18. Chapter 18

Kenzi was terrified. She was terrified because the nurses were about to insert a feeding tube into her stomach and then they were going to pour liquid calories into her stomach through the tube. How had she gotten to this point? Isn't this the outcome that she had been scared of the whole time? It certainly couldn't get any worse than this, right? Kenzi looked over at Tamsin, hoping her girlfriend could help her feel less terrified.

"It's okay, Kenzi. I know your scared. I promise you are going to start feeling better after they get the tube in and you get used to having food in your body again. And I promise I'm not going anywhere. I love you," Tamsin said, hoping that she could help Kenzi feel a little better. She could see the fear in her tiny girlfriends eyes. It reminded her of the first time her sister had to get a feeding tube. The Dr had pretty much pushed Tamsin out of the room that day, saying it was better if the nurses held the scared teenager down while they put the tube in. Tamsin had been furious and had wanted to use her Valkyrie face on them but she also didn't want them to mess up while trying to help her little sister so she had paced the waiting room until someone had come back to get her. She had returned to her sisters bedside to see that they had strapped the young girl down after she'd attempted to pull the tube out several times.

The nurses had gathered all the supplies to start Kenzi's feeding tube and soon gathered next to her bedside. Tamsin stood on one side of Kenzi, holding her girlfriends hand while Bo stood behind Kenzi, prepared to assist in holding Kenzi's head, should she start to panic but also hoping to be another source of comfort for Kenzi. Lauren stood next to Bo, there to assist if needed as well or if Bo needed her.

"Okay, Kenzi, I'm going to need you to try and sip some water for me while I start guiding the tube in your nose. Swallowing will help it go down easier," A nurse said.

Kenzi starting to sip the water, still feeling scared but momentarily distracted as she focused on taking slow sips. The nurse was able to get the tube inside Kenzi's nose and start guiding it down Kenzi's throat, esophagus, and into her stomach. It was definitely a strange feeling and once or twice Kenzi wanted to gag but she knew that if she stayed calm it would be over quickly. In just a few minutes it was in and the nurse hung a bag of white liquid on a pole and pushed some buttons to start the liquid slowly going through the feeding tube and into Kenzi's stomach.

"You feeling okay, Kenzi?" Tamsin asked.

Kenzi smiled and nodded yes to her girlfriend. She wasn't feeling as terrified anymore now that the tube was in place.

Kenzi did fine for about 10 minutes, when she started to feel the liquid in her stomach. It felt like her stomach was stretching in order to make room for the liquid and Kenzi was not liking the incredibly full feeling that went with it. She hadn't had much in her stomach in a long time. She began to panic.

"Tamsin, can you tell them to take the feeding tube out now? I think they gave me enough of the liquid now. My stomach...it feels incredibly full and i'm scared! I don't think I can take anymore right now," Kenz said.

Tamsin was pretty sure that Kenzi was going to feel panicky at some point, as the liquid entered her stomach. It had been so long since she'd kept very much in her stomach.

"Kenzi, I know this part is hard for you, sweetie, but I promise you, the nurses know what they are doing and they aren't going to put more liquid in your stomach than you can handle. Your going to feel really full for a little bit, but if you can try to get through it, you'll start to feel better," Tamsin said, gently squeezing Kenzi's hand.

"But I'm going to get so fat...I'm going to gain weight and then i'm going to be hideous! Please, make them stop! Inari is going to be so mad..."

Tamsin could tell Kenzi needed her to do more than just hold her hand right then. She was pretty sure she could get Kenzi to calm down if she held her. Tamsin made sure the wires were out of the way and climbed into the bed next to Kenzi, wrapping her arms around Kenzi, pulling her close. She held her girlfriend in her arms as best as she could, glad that the IV was on Kenzi's other hand, along with the IV and feeding tube bag.

"Its going to be okay, Kenzi. Inari can't touch you if i'm here. Your not going to get fat, your going to get healthy and strong again, so you can walk out of this hospital," Tamsin said.

Tears rolled down Kenzi's face as she let herself be comforted by Tamsin. She didn't know what she would do if Tamsin wasn't there to help her through this. Or Bo for that matter.

Kenzi fell asleep after a few minutes, exhausted from the events of the day. Tamsin held her for a long time before gently getting up, though she didn't want to. She resumed her spot next to Kenzi, wanting to let her sleep.

Kenzi woke a few hours later, feeling much calmer. She also decided that she had an idea of what she wanted to do from here and it wasn't going to the eating disorder clinic, once she was stronger. She knew that she needed to continue to get better but a hospital wasn't where she wanted to be. She knew exactly who she needed to talk to as well.

"Tamsin, do you know where Lauren is? I-I think I need to talk to her," Kenzi said.

"Lauren? I think she went back to the waiting room with Bo. Do you want me to go get her?" Tamsin asked, slightly surprised that Kenzi was asked for Lauren.

"That would be great. Don't worry, I just want to talk to her since she's a Dr. I'll explain why in a bit," Kenzi said.

"No worries, sweetie, I'll just go grab her."

Lauren was also surprised that Kenzi wanted to talk to her.

"Hey, Kenzi. Tamsin said you wanted to talk to me?" Lauren asked, coming into the room and closing the door. She came and sat next to Kenzi's bed.

"Yes, I did. I know this probably seems weird but I wanted to talk to you because your a Dr and all and you have a clinic outside of a regular hospital. And because I trust you. I realized a little while ago that the whole hospital eating disorder program kind of freaks me out a bit. I'm not really the type to talk about my feelings in front of other people and the idea of having to stay in an actual hospital for 6-8 months, well i'm just not the type of person who likes the idea of that. I was wondering if ….I don't know how to say this...Would you consider being my Dr after i'm stable? I know I need to continue eating and gaining weight and all...but the hospital just doesn't sound like a great place to do that...Would you treat me at your clinic or maybe even like at Bo's place? I would rather have you, Tamsin, and Bo help me get better..."

"Wow, i'm shocked but incredibly touched that you would want me to be your Dr and help you recover from your eating disorder. Kenzi, I would be more than happy to do just that. We would need to clear it with the Dr.'s here at the hospital, but I can understand why you wouldn't want to go through the eating disorder treatment here. And i'm sure Tamsin and Bo would be more than happy to assist me in helping you get better. You would also need to see a therapist probably, on a weekly basis, but other than that, I have everything at my clinic that we would need to help you get better. And we could treat you and Bo's place as well, if you'd rather be home. Are you okay if I go talk to the Dr.'s about this right now?" Lauren asked.

"Yes, I would love for you to do that, Lauren. And thank you. This would mean so much to me..." Kenzi said. Lauren hugged Kenzi then left the room to go find Kenzi's Dr and talk to Bo and Tamsin.

Tamsin and Bo came back in to talk to Kenzi a few minutes later, after Lauren and had let them know what Kenzi had told her.

"Kenzi, i'm incredibly proud of you for making your own decisions. I understand why you wouldn't want to stay in the hospital for 8 months," Tamsin said.

"I can't believe you want us to help you, Kenz. That means so much to me! I know you can do this," Bo said.

"How could I stand to be without the two of you for 8 months? Who would make sure things don't get too boring?" Kenzi joked.

"Hmmm, i'm not sure if we know what were getting ourselves into, Bo. What ever would we do without Kenzi's sense of humor?" Tamsin joked, leaning down to kiss her girlfriend.

Kenzi smiled, glad to have such great friends in her life.

Lauren came back in the room a few minutes later to let Kenzi know that the Dr's had agreed to release Kenzi into her care once she was stable. It would likely be another 2 weeks before Kenzi would be stronger and able to walk, unassisted. Kenzi would take 2 weeks in the hospital any day over 8 months, and agreed to sign the paper stating that she would willingly allow herself to be released into Lauren's care, once the two weeks was up.

Kenzi was finally starting to feel happy again, something she hadn't felt in such a long time. Her life had been focused on exercising and avoiding eating and now she could finally focus on getting better and have her friends by her side.


	19. Chapter 19

Kenzi was making great progress. She had successfully allowed the hospital to tube feed her the next few days while she remained in intensive care and as a result she was able to move to the regular part of the hospital. This made things easier for everyone because the rooms were bigger and Kenzi was allowed to have visitors a lot longer and more often. Neither Tamsin nor Bo ever left the hospital in the time Kenzi was there. Lauren was more than happy to grab anything they needed while they stayed with Kenzi. The hospital made an exception and allowed Bo and Tamsin to stay in Kenzi's room 24/7, seeing as how they were helping Kenzi get through the more difficult times.

Once Kenzi was moved to the regular hospital it was time for her to start eating food. They started her with liquids such as soup, smoothies, ensure and gradually she stepped up to mashed potatoes, grits, oatmeal, etc until she was eating regular food.

Kenzi still found it very difficult to get through each meal. She still heard Inari's voice in the back of her head, telling her that she wasn't good enough and that she didn't deserve to eat, but the voice was started to fade away. Another thing Kenzi was dealing with was not being able to exercise, even though she was still very weak and couldn't walk the first couple of days she was in the hospital. She still felt that urge to hop out of bed and start running but was irritated by how slowly she was actually able to move. Tamsin and Bo urged her to keep eating, assuring her that if she did so that her body would get stronger.

Finally Kenzi's two weeks in the hospital were up. She was feeling much stronger than she had in awhile and could now easily walk without difficulty.

"Kenzi, i'm happy to be able to say that I think you are strong enough to leave the hospital and begin your treatment in Dr. Lewis's care," The Dr said.

"I'm so glad I get to leave this place! I was getting tired of staring at these white walls all day," Kenzi said, smiling at her Dr. She was happy to be leaving but a small part of her was a little scared about not being in the safety of a hospital where they could make sure she was eating like she was suppose to. She would still have Lauren to make sure of that, along with Bo and Tamsin, but it was still a little different and she was a little concerned that she might start to slip back into old habits.

"And Kenzi, Dr. Lewis is an excellent Dr and she will make sure that you continue to get better. However, if you do feel like you need to be in a hospital setting with other people who are going through the same thing, feel free to give us a call or come on in."

"Thanks, I will," Kenzi said, though being in a 'hospital setting' was the last place she wanted to be again.

Kenzi was discharged about an hour later and was feeling very pleasant as she walked out the hospital doors with Tamsin, Bo, and Lauren. Kenzi had decided that she wanted to rotate between her and Bo's place, Tamsin's place, and Lauren's clinic each week so that she didn't feel like she was confined to one place. This also meant that she would get to spend some one-on-one time with Tamsin while also getting to spend some time with her Best Friend at other times. The goal was for one of them to always be with Kenzi, at least for now, so that she didn't feel the urge to slip up and fall back into the trap of her eating disorder. Kenzi was not going to be allowed to go back to the gym or jog for several months as she needed to continue regaining her strength but she was allowed to go on walks and was encouraged to do so several times a day, as long as she limited them to 30 minutes at a time.

The first night back Kenzi decided to stay at her and Bo's place and both Lauren and Tamsin decided to stay over as well.

They all decided to watch a movie after dinner and snuggled up on the couch, Kenzi in Tamsin's arms with Bo next to Kenzi and Lauren snuggling up to Bo.

"So Tamsin, should we have a sleepover down here tonight or would you rather come sleep in my bed with me?" Kenzi asked, after the movie was over.

"Hmm, I think I like your invitation to invite me into your bed. Its been so long since i've been able to sleep next to you without fearing that I was going to fall out of the hospital bed or pull out one of the many wires you were attached to," Tamsin said.

"I think I like that idea too. My bed is definitely bigger and comfier than those tiny hospital beds," Kenzi said.

Tamsin leaned in and whispered something in Kenzi's ear, causing Kenzi to laugh and blush.

"Oh, you made her blush, Tamsin! I can only imagine what you just said to her if it made her blush," Bo said, laughing.

"You are so naughty, Miss Valkyrie," Kenzi said, a fake stern look on her face.

"Maybe you should punish me then," Tamsin joked.

"Maybe I will..." Kenzi said.

"Perhaps we should take this to your room then," Tamsin said, winking at Kenzi.

"Let's go, hot pants," Kenzi said, starting to detangle herself from Tamsin's arms. Tamsin let her get most of the way up before she wrapped her arms around Kenzi again and pulled her back down, embracing the small human in her arms.

"Not so fast, little girl," Tamsin said. She held onto her girlfriend in a tight embrace, not wanting to let go of the girl she thought she was going to lose several weeks ago.

"What are you doing, Tamsin?" Kenzi said, faking being mad.

"I just needed to hold you one more time before we walk upstairs. Cant be away from my girl for too long," Tamsin said, even though she knew it was a short walk upstairs, she felt like she couldn't be away from Kenzi for even a few minutes. She was falling hard for Kenzi, and she only hoped the feeling was mutual.

"Okay, hot pants, if you can't stand to be away from me for even a few minutes then, perhaps you should just... I don't know, carry me up the stairs in your arms? Isn't that kind of like carrying me over the threshold, when you first get married and walk into your first home?" Kenzi asked, a dreamy look on her face.

"Works for me!" Tamsin said, grabbing Kenzi up in her arms so fast she startled the small girl.

"You don't waste any time, do you?" Kenzi said, smiling up at Tamsin as she got up from the couch, Kenzi in her arms.

"Nope!" Tamsin said before heading towards the stairs. She paused before walking up them to look down at Kenzi for a second.

" I love you, Kenzi," Tamsin said, her eyes full of love and a tinge of fear as she hoped the feeling was mutual for Kenzi.

"Love you too, hot pants," Kenzi said, smiling up at Tamsin.

Tamsin smiled and began to walk up the stairs. Kenzi called out a goodnight to Bo over Tamsin's shoulder.

"Night, Kenzi. Enjoy your night," Bo called out, before snuggling closer to Lauren.

Bo finally felt like her life was complete again. Kenzi was getting back to her old self, she had found someone who she cared for deeply, and she wasn't in danger anymore. Lauren was going to make sure that Kenzi didn't slip back into her eating disorder and things were finally starting to look up again.


	20. Chapter 20

Kenzi lay in her bed next to Tamsin, staring up at her ceiling after enjoying some intimate alone time with her new girlfriend. She couldn't believe how much had changed in the past few months. She had gotten back home after being captured by Inari, developed an eating disorder that had nearly taken her life, and had fallen in love with Tamsin. It hadn't seemed possible to her a few weeks ago to fall in love so hard and so fast with someone, not to mention someone who would actually make her forget all the horrible things that had happened to her with Inari. She was really going to be able to overcome her eating disorder and she had everyone she loved right by her side. She looked over at Tamsin, who appeared to be asleep. She looked so peaceful and happy laying next to Kenzi. Kenzi couldn't keep her hands off her girlfriend. Tamsin made her feel something she had never felt before and she never wanted to stop feeling it. Kenzi lifted Tamsin's arm up so she could snuggle close to Tamsin, placing her girlfriends arm around her waist as she settled in close.

Kenzi didn't realize that Tamsin had only been pretending to sleep and had been stealing glances every now and then at her beautiful human girlfriend. She couldn't believe that such a beautiful girl was lying next to her. Kenzi was everything she had ever dreamed of...and more. Tamsin had half expected Kenzi to tell her to go away that night that she had discovered her outside the gym, about to faint. She was so glad that Kenzi hadn't shut Tamsin out and had let her help her and of course, fallen in love with her. Tamsin very slowly moved her arms tighter around Kenzi's waist, snuggling closer to Kenzi, still pretending to be asleep. Then without any warning she began to tickle Kenzi mercilessly, starting at her ribs and working across the small girls waist.

Kenzi began to giggle, being very ticklish.

"Stop! Stop!" Kenzi said, still laughing and not sounding very much like she really wanted Tamsin to stop.

"What was that? I can't hear you over your giggles."

"Stop, please! That tickles!"

"You don't say! I think your going to have to beg me if you want me to stop"

"Please, Hot pants...Tamsin...won't you stop tickling me?" Kenzi said.

"Maybe..."

"Pretty please, Hot pants? I'll...kiss you if you stop."

Tamsin laughed, "I guess I can do that for a kiss..."

Kenzi leaned over and began to passionately kiss Tamsin.

"Wow, you either really like me or you really don't like to be tickled," Tamsin said, after they had broken the kiss.

"Well, I definitely really like you. That I know for sure," Kenzi said, smiling over at Tamsin.

"I like you too, Kenz," Tamin said, wrapping her arm around Kenzi and pulling her in for a hug.

After a few minute they both laid back down, snuggling close to each other. They fell asleep in each other arms.

 _I think i'm going to end this story here as it seems like a good place to stop. I really enjoyed writing this story and love the relationship between Kenzi and Tamsin and the friendship between Bo and Kenzi. I'm planning to write a sequel to this story soon. I hope you've all enjoyed reading this story! Reviews are always welcome:)_


End file.
